A few years back I wrote a blog post about Robert Frost’s “Christmas Cards.” Frost’s cards—chapbooks, more accurately—were first issued in 1929, and then annually from 1934-1962. While Frost was the first Consultant in Poetry or Poet Laureate to embrace a literary Christmastime tradition, he was not the last. In 1962, the year Frost’s final …
The following is a guest post by the inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman. This is the third in a series of monthly blog posts that Amanda will be writing during her laureateship this year. This week something miraculous happened: I got a poem from my Secret Santa. Now, this might not seem that incredible, …
The following is a guest post by the inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman. This is the second in a series of monthly blog posts that Amanda will be writing during her laureateship this year. Last year my Harvard friends called me The Lorax. Some of them didn’t really know what ‘laureate’ meant (heck, I …
The following is a guest post by the inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman. This is the first in a series of monthly blog posts that Amanda will be writing during her laureateship this year. “How does it feel to be U.S. Youth Poet Laureate?” These words always find themselves in the mouths of …
On September 13, Tracy K. Smith greeted a packed house in the Coolidge Auditorium for her inaugural reading as 22nd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. “I remember when I was very young I started, but was never able to finish, a poem in which I was trying to imagine the afterlife as a library,” she said …
The following is a guest post by Katherine Blood, Curator of Fine Prints, Prints & Photographs Division. It originally appeared on Picture This, the division’s blog. When Juan Felipe Herrera was exploring Library of Congress collections to share through his Poet Laureate project El Jardín (The Garden): La Casa de Colores, he was interested to …
Tonight at 7 PM, Tracy K. Smith will take the stage for her inaugural reading as 22nd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. The event is sold out, but don’t fret: If you’re unable to attend in person, you can still attend virtually; this historic evening will be streamed live via Facebook and YouTube. Librarian of …
Today, as thousands upon thousands of high schools around the country bittersweetly sounded their morning bells for the first time this school year, we at the Poetry and Literature Center sounded our bells as well. Why, you ask? Because the start of the school year also brings with it the start of Poetry 180, and …
It’s been a full week since Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced Tracy K. Smith as the 22nd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. As you can imagine, our new Laureate has been keeping herself busy: After the announcement, dozens of interviews and articles have appeared about her appointment, her view of the Laureateship, and her …