Top of page
Posted by: Anne Holmes
This essay, "Peace and War in American Poetry," was written in 2012 by David Lehman as part of the Poetry and Literature Center's online "Poetry of American History" series that ran from 2012-2014.
Posted in: Guest Posts
Posted by: Peter Armenti
On October 24, 2019, the Library of Congress welcomed the fifth author in its yearlong National Book Festival Presents series, the inimitable fiction writer Alexander McCall Smith. As part of the programming surrounding Mr. McCall Smith's visit, staff from four Library divisions were asked to develop a display of items related to Mr. McCall Smith and his works.
Posted in: Collections, Guest Posts, News and Events
Posted by: Peter Armenti
Rebecca Newland, former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, participated in a week-long National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture workshop titled "The Concord Landscapes and Legacy of Henry Thoreau" in July. In this post, she develops two ideas about how to explore the philosophies and work of Thoreau in your classroom or library.
Posted in: Guest Posts, Teacher's Corner
Posted by: Anne Holmes
On Wednesday, November 6, in honor of Veterans Day and the 20th anniversary of the Veterans History Project, the Veterans History Project, the American Folklife Center, and the Poetry and Literature Center will host a discussion on occupational poetry. In anticipation, we've asked three of the event's participating poets to share a poem, answer a few questions about their work, and respond to another occupational poet's poem.
Posted in: Interviews, News and Events
Posted by: Anne Holmes
Occupational poetry is a category of verbal art anchored in communities of work. As a form of folk poetry, it often manifests in the everyday settings of jobs and employment. Folklore scholarship and fieldwork has focused on the poetic traditions within a narrow range of occupational roles, including miners, commercial fishers, loggers, and, perhaps most visibly, cowboys.
Posted in: Collections, Digital Resources, Guest Posts, News and Events
Posted by: Anne Holmes
The following cross-post was written by Alison Hall, a writer-editor for the Office of Public Information and Education in the U.S. Copyright Office; it originally appeared on the Copyright: Creativity at Work blog. Learn more about the connection between Edgar Allan Poe and copyright at the Copyright Matters event “Quoth the Raven: Edgar Allan Poe …
Posted in: Digital Resources, Guest Posts, News and Events
Posted by: Anne Holmes
The following essay was written in 2012 by Ted Kooser, 13th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, as part of the Poetry and Literature Center’s online “Poetry of American History” series that ran from 2012-2014. The series included essays and interviews by leaders in the literary field, including former Poet Laureate Consultants in Poetry, that illustrated how …
Posted in: Guest Posts, Poets Laureate
Posted by: Anne Holmes
The following is a guest post by National Youth Poet Laureate Kara Jackson. This is the third in a series of bimonthly blog posts that Kara will be writing during her laureateship this year. Happy Libra season everyone! October is my favorite month. I love the way fall forces us to live with change. It’s remarkable …
Posted in: Guest Posts
Posted by: Anne Holmes
The following guest post, explaining the connection between former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith and the latest Brad Pitt film, “Ad Astra,” is by Guy Lamolinara, communications officer for the Center for the Book. It originally appeared on the Library of Congress blog. If you have seen the space film “Ad Astra”—Latin for “to the …
Posted in: Guest Posts, Poets Laureate