Just last week, we launched Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s signature project, “You Are Here,” and the Mary Oliver Memorial Event at the Library’s historic Coolidge Auditorium. If you missed the event, you can check it out on our YouTube page—and here’s where to buy “You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World,” the brand-new anthology featuring 50 poems commissioned by the laureate.
The press around the laureate, her anthology and her overall project continues to come in. The New York Times featured both a glowing National Poetry Month kickoff op-ed and a “By the Book” interview, and the anthology has been featured in round-ups by the LA Times, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Week and Poets & Writers, among others. The Chicago Review of Books did a great interview of Ada, as did the Brooklyn Rail.
In the middle of all this, we got amazing news from our friends at NASA: their “Message in a Bottle” campaign, featuring Ada’s poem “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” is up for a prestigious Webby Award. For those of you who don’t know, the Webby Awards is “the Internet’s highest honor,” according to the New York Times, and honors excellence in nine major media types. “Message in a Bottle” is part of the “Best Community Engagement” category—and you can make sure it wins the People’s Voice Award!
All you have to do is go to this page and vote. Voting ends on April 18th.
If you want to also celebrate Ada in person, and you’re looking for some fun vacation plans this summer/fall, there’s her “Poetry in Parks” initiative in national parks around the country—which includes her kickoff visits. Hope to see you at one or more in a few months.