Jun 30 ‘Citizen’ is our July book club pick By Courtney Vinopal Our July book club pick for Now Read This is Claudia Rankine's "Citizen: An American Lyric"… Continue reading
Apr 18 Watch 6:13 Landmark Oregon bookstore strains to survive the pandemic By Tom Casciato The independent book business has been battered in recent decades, as locally owned sellers strained to compete with the online-giant Amazon. But the COVID-19 crisis has forced many to close their doors, depriving both readers and writers the spaces they… Continue watching
Feb 13 Watch 3:43 Tongo Eisen-Martin’s Brief But Spectacular take on poetry as revolution Poet Tongo Eisen-Martin was born and raised in San Francisco, a city whose rapid gentrification he critiques in his work. Through his writing, Eisen-Martin seeks to “facilitate resistance” to a culture that he believes perpetuates domination of those who are… Continue watching
Nov 08 How veterans who write poetry can help bridge divides By James Dubinsky, The Conversation To better understand veterans' sacrifice, read their poems. Continue reading
Sep 19 Watch 7:23 U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo on opening a ‘doorway of hope’ for indigenous artists By Jeffrey Brown, Kira Wakeam Joy Harjo, the new poet laureate of the United States, is the first Native American to achieve that honor. Jeffrey Brown recently sat down with Harjo, a member of Oklahoma's Muscogee Creek Nation, in Tulsa to discuss how arts shaped… Continue watching
Jun 26 Watch 6:10 At this D.C. jail, a book club offers a safe space By Jeffrey Brown, Rachel Wellford Reading and writing can provide a profession, a passion or an escape from reality. In Washington, D.C., the Free Minds Book Club positions the activities as mechanisms through which incarcerated people can express themselves in healthy and constructive ways. As… Continue watching
Jun 19 Joy Harjo becomes first Native American named U.S. poet laureate By Hillel Italie, Associated Press Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said in a statement that Harjo helped tell an "American story" of traditions both lost and maintained, of "reckoning and myth-making. Continue reading
Mar 15 W.S. Merwin, prize-winning poet of nature, dies at 91 By Hillel Italie, Jennifer Kelleher, Associated Press A Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. poet laureate, Merwin completed more than 20 books. Continue reading
Feb 08 When you turn 29, ‘metamorphosis is not optional,’ this poet says By Lora Strum For poet Hala Alyan, year 29 was an "emotional border" comprised of necessary endings and new beginnings. Continue reading
Jan 21 How the public domain offers new life to these poetry classics By Lora Strum 2019 marks the first mass copyright expiration in more than two decades, freeing up works like Robert Frost's "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" for academic, creative and commercial use. Continue reading