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Posted by: Peter Armenti
The following guest post, part of our “Teacher’s Corner” series, is by Rebecca Newland, a Fairfax County Public Schools Librarian and former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress. This time of year, students’ thoughts turn to winter break, snow, and holidays. In some places their eyes glance to the window searching for snowflakes. …
Posted in: Guest Posts, Teacher's Corner
Posted by: Peter Armenti
Delaware’s poetry lovers could be excused for doing a double take Wednesday evening. After all, Governor Jack Markell had just made an unprecedented announcement: identical twins Nnamdi Chukwuocha and Albert Mills, known as the Twin Poets, would share the title of 17th Poets Laureate of the State of Delaware. The appointment marks the first time …
Posted in: News and Events, State Poets
Posted by: Peter Armenti
The following is a guest post by Megan Metcalf, a reference librarian in the Library’s Humanities & Social Sciences Division. One weekday afternoon, I found myself sitting across the table from the self-proclaimed Black, lesbian, feminist, and warrior-poet Audre Lorde. To be clear, I wasn’t actually in the same room with Audre Lorde, who passed …
Posted in: Collections, Digital Resources, Guest Posts
Posted by: Peter Armenti
The following post was written by Cathy Kerst from the Library’s American Folklife Center (AFC), and originally appeared on the AFC’s Folklife Today blog. Documenting California Sounds and Communities: The Story of Migration and Settlement from the New Deal Era to the Present The Library’s newly-appointed Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, spent the afternoon of …
Posted in: Collections, Digital Resources, Guest Posts, Poets Laureate
Posted by: Peter Armenti
Halloween, as celebrated in the United States today, is a holiday focused primarily on children. In the Victorian era and the first decades of the 20th century, however, Halloween’s focus was less on kids, candy, and trick-or-treating than on the romantic desires of young, single men and women. In particular, one the most popular forms …
Posted in: Collections, Digital Resources
Posted by: Peter Armenti
Juan Felipe Herrera‘s inaugural reading as U.S. Poet Laureate on September 15 was widely praised by the media and others in attendance. Ron Charles, reviewing the event in the Washington Post, noted: If there were any doubt, Herrera, the first Mexican American U.S. poet laureate, made it clear Tuesday night that he’s bringing a new …
Posted in: Digital Resources, Poets Laureate
Posted by: Peter Armenti
The following is a guest post by Rob Casper, head of the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress. I write you now, still recovering from Juan Felipe Herrera’s first couple of weeks as our 21st Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. His laureateship kicked off at the National Book Festival, where he read …
Posted in: News and Events, Poets Laureate
Posted by: Peter Armenti
In 2001, the then U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins launched the online poetry project Poetry 180 as a way to introduce American high school students to contemporary poetry. Poetry 180 quickly became the most popular poetry-related resource on the Library of Congress’s website, and consistently ranks among the most visited sections of the Library’s entire …
Posted in: Digital Resources, Poets Laureate
Posted by: Peter Armenti
Since my last state poets update in July, one new state poet laureate was appointed and has begun his term, a second was appointed and will assume his role in the fall, and a third announced he is resigning from his position due to an impending move to a new state. Here are the facts: …
Posted in: State Poets