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New Poetry Podcast Series Launches

Posted by: Anne Holmes

As April winds down, our celebration of National Poetry Month at the Library of Congress is still going strong: Today we launch From the Catbird Seat, a new poetry podcast series from the Poetry and Literature Center. Each Thursday for the next eight weeks, we’ll explore poetry’s past, present and future. Join us—Rob Casper, head …

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Behind the Scenes with Tracy K. Smith

Posted by: Anne Holmes

Tracy K. Smith is closing out a busy year in the catbird seat. During her first term as laureate, she visited rural communities in New Mexico, South Carolina, and Kentucky as part of a pilot project she plans to expand for next year; edited a new anthology, American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time, which will …

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New Recordings Online for National Poetry Month

Posted by: Anne Holmes

National Poetry Month is here, and we’re over the moon to announce the release of 50 additional recordings from the Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature, now available to stream online. The archive—a collection dating back to 1943, when Allen Tate was Consultant in Poetry—contains nearly 2,000 audio recordings of celebrated poets and writers participating …

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Endings and New Beginnings with Tracy K. Smith

Posted by: Anne Holmes

Last Thursday, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced the appointment of Tracy K. Smith to a second term as the 22nd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. Next month, on April 19, the Laureate will return to the Library for “Staying Human: Poetry in the Age of Technology,” a celebration concluding her first term. Smith will …

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Stories from a Fallen World: A Tribute to Denis Johnson

Posted by: Anne Holmes

The following is a guest post by Marie Arana, literary advisor to the Library of Congress; coordinator of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction; and the literary director of the National Book Festival. Next Wednesday, March 28, she will moderate “Stories from a Fallen World: A Tribute to Denis Johnson,” featuring Jonathan Franzen, …

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“The Poet Diaries”: The Marker of March

Posted by: Anne Holmes

The following is a guest post by the inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman. This is the sixth in a series of monthly blog posts that Amanda will be writing during her laureateship this year.  Join Amanda tonight at the Library of Congress for a National Youth Poet Laureate Celebration. Amanda Gorman and the 2018 National Youth Poet …