Voices, the Chapel Hill Chorus, recently announced Natalie Sherman-Jollis as the winner of its “American Dreams” high school poetry competition. Sherman-Jollis recently completed her sophomore year at East Chapel Hill High School. This fall she will be attending the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics. In addition to writing poetry, she enjoys competitive sailing, playing … Continue reading Chapel Hill teen’s ‘Dream’ wins poetry contest (via Chapel Hill News)
Click the link below to read in full. The clothes hang from a pressed-tin ceiling in the middle of a narrow storefront — worn T-shirts, tattered jeans, a limp sweater, a dirty work boot. They seem unremarkable, except for this: They came from the bodies of overdose victims, nearly all of whom had been killed … Continue reading Maine recovery center uses art, poetry to take a hard look at heroin (via Boston Globe)
Click the link beneath the excerpt to read the full piece. He hits it on the nail! As poet and Pulitzer nominee Clifford Brooks states below, “…just as it is crucial that a writer creates his or her own voice, the way we edit is also a matter of self-discovery.” I couldn’t agree more. I’m a … Continue reading Editing Poetry: ‘SAY IT OR DON’T SAY IT’ (via Writer’s Digest)
Joseph Woods’ love of the spoken word has led him to a new name, a hip-hop music career, becoming Knoxville’s Poetry Slam Master, and most recently starting up a monthly open-mic poetry event known as Po’ Boys and Poets. Black Atticus, as he is known among friends and the poetry community, walks into Big Fatty’s … Continue reading Artist welcomes community to open-mic poetry sessions in Bearden (via KnoxNewsSent)
Poet laureate is a coveted position in North Carolina’s literary world. Fred Chappell and Sam Ragan are among the nationally known previous laureates, while outgoing Laureate Joseph Bathanti has published a dozen books and won major awards, including the Carolina Novel Award and the Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award. Bathanti’s two-year term is up, and … Continue reading McCrory picks poet laureate without input, rankles poetry community (via News&Observer)
Most mornings, David Denny ambles around a Metro stop in downtown Washington D.C., in the signature neon-yellow vest of a vendor selling Street Sense, a newspaper largely written and sold by the local homeless. But this week's mornings were not like any other: Denny's name was on the front page of the latest issue of … Continue reading Obama writes to homeless poet on ‘Commentary to a Black Man’ (via Reuters)
Mary Welch draws her hand across the smooth gray-toned cover of the slim volume in her lap. "Life's Poems," by Mary Margaret Sheets-Welch, the title reads. "It's my life story in this book," she said, noting the tragedies in her life — serious illness, the deaths of two husbands and more recently two of her … Continue reading Inspired by life’s events, Towson senior pens book of poetry (via TheBaltimoreSun)
Frank Sherlock was named Philadelphia’s second-ever poet laureate. The first, renowned writer Sonia Sanchez, HON ’98, was the Laura Carnell Chair in English in the College of Liberal Arts until her retirement in 1999 and also was the university’s first Presidential Fellow. A 2013 Pew Fellow, Sherlock attended the College of Liberal Arts. That both … Continue reading Temple writers alter Philadelphia’s poetry landscape (via TempleUniv)
Would love to know your thoughts on this piece. Hit the link below for the full article. Poetry is no longer something we curl up to with a cup of tea. Instead, we take it in through earbuds. And America has never loved it more. One hears a certain baleful cry regularly in writerly circles … Continue reading Americans Have Never Loved Poetry More—But They Call It Rap (via DailyBeast)
Anyone who has heard Chris Rock's "speaking well" joke, or read Racialiscious' "Barack Obama is AWB: Articulate While Black" blog understands there are racial politics that shadow over compliments of articulacy. Poet and activist Jamila Lyiscott fleshes out the implications of such a compliment in her "3 Ways To Speak English" Ted Talk. "I have … Continue reading Word-weaver Jamila Lyiscott Cooly Disgraces An ‘Articulate’ Compliment (via Huffington Post)
