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Looking Ahead to 2018 Events

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As 2017 comes to an end, we’re excited to share what the Poetry and Literature Center has in store for the first half of 2018:

For those on the West Coast, catch National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman and Los Angeles Poet Laureate Robin Coste Lewis at the Los Angeles Central Library on Saturday, January 13. The two laureates will read their own work and chat about the value of poetry, place, and laureateship in a moderated discussion with Rob Casper, head of the Poetry and Literature Center. Mila Eve Cuda, the 2017-18 Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate, will open the event.

Back in D.C., help us welcome 2017 Caine Prize winner Bushra al-Fadil on February 27 as part of the Conversations with African Poets and Writers series. The Sudanese writer will read from his prize-winning short story, “The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away,” and participate in a moderated discussion with Marieta Harper, Africa Area Specialist in the African and Middle Eastern Division.

National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman will make a spring appearance here at the Library of Congress on March 15, along with the not-yet-announced 2018 National Youth Poet Laureate finalists, for a reading and moderated discussion with Michael Cirelli, executive director of Urban Word NYC.

On March 21 and April 11, Ron Charles will host poets Laura Kasischke and Matthew Zapruder, respectively, for the spring season of The Life of a Poet at the Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital.

To close out the spring season and celebrate the conclusion of her first term as laureate, 22nd U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith will deliver a lecture on April 19.

Stay tuned for more, of course, but we hope these spring events will tide you over for now. In the meantime: Happy holidays to you and yours!

[Snowball fight in front of U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.]. Harris & Ewing, photographer.