The following guest post is by Jeff Shotts, executive editor at Graywolf Press—publisher of the anthology American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time in association with the Library of Congress. Regular, daily poetry programming on the airwaves has not only been saved, it’s been revitalized. American Public Media, the Library of Congress, and the Poetry Foundation …
During the last week of August, Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith traveled to rural communities in three of Alaska’s five regions as the kickoff to “American Conversations: Celebrating Poems in Rural Communities.” Today, we’re excited to share photos, interviews, and reflections from Tracy’s adventures in Alaska on the “American Conversations” website. “I’ve been welcomed into …
The following is a guest post by Anastasia Nikolis, the poetry editor for our newly relaunched Interview Series. Poetry has a reputation of being eccentric and esoteric; of being stunningly opaque but deeply meaningful. This is why people say they “don’t understand it,” won’t often read it, and more often turn to poems at times …
The following is a guest post by Catalina Gómez, reference librarian in the Hispanic Division. It originally appeared on the 4 Corners of the World: International Collections blog. Among the various ways that the Library celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15) is by launching, during this special commemoration, new digital material on …
With her “American Conversations” project in full swing, U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith is keeping busy on the road—she kicked off the tour in rural Alaska at the end of August, and today she will travel to communities in South Dakota. In the coming weeks, we’ll announce public events for her remaining fall trips …
The following guest post is by Guy Lamolinara, communications officer in the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. The beauty of Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith’s “American Conversations” project is that it brings poetry to places most book tours—or tours of any nature—never reach. The project kicked off August 27-29 with a …
The following is a guest post by Mark F. Hall, a research specialist in the Library of Congress’s Researcher and Reference Services Division. In today’s rapidly and constantly changing culture, we like to think that some things are the same generation after generation. The books we read, for example. It’s comforting to know that our …
The following is a piece written by U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith as part of the Library of Congress Magazine’s “How Do I?” series. It is reprinted from the September–October back-to-school issue of LCM, the Library of Congress Magazine. The issue is available in its entirety online. Like a stranger in somebody else’s home, I …
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. One way to show students the importance of poetry is to start sharing poems at the beginning of the school year, even perhaps on the …
