Rebecca Newland, a Fairfax County Public Schools Librarian and former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, explores ways to introduce audio recordings of poetry to students, especially as a form of remote learning.
Today, on the last day of National Poetry Month, we are thrilled to report that the Librarian of Congress has appointed Joy Harjo for a second term as U.S. Poet Laureate.
On Friday, May 1, at 3 PM ET, the Library of Congress Learning and Innovation Office and By the People crowdsourcing team will partner with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to host a Walt Whitman and crowdsourcing themed webinar.
The Library has just added a 1961 recording of Gwendolyn Brooks reading her poems, including "We Real Cool," as part of its annual release of 50 newly streaming recordings to the online Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature. This recording came 24 years before Brooks was appointed Consultant in Poetry and read the poem—which had since become iconic—during her inaugural event.
On April 14th, as part of the Poetry Coalition’s nationwide programming initiative “I am deliberate / and afraid / of nothing: Poetry & Protest,” Mass Poetry presented a video of “In This Place (An American Lyric)” by former (and inaugural) National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman.
21st U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera reads and discusses his poem "Five Directions to My House" in the third installment of our weekly collaborative video series with The Washington Post, “The Poetry of Home.”
As many people shelter in place during this pandemic, and face fears and personal losses, it is a good time to think about the transcendence and respite that poetry can offer. Library of Congress Manuscript Division curator Barbara Bair explores how former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey's work does just that.