National Poetry Month, which organizers say is the largest literary celebration in the world, is observed throughout April. The Academy of American Poets inaugurated the month in 1996. Tens of millions of people participate, according to the academy, as schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers and poets offer readings, festivals and workshops.
This year, the academy is asking young people to participate in its Dear Poet project by writing letters to suggested poets. Poetry lovers can also participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day, April 30. The Academy urges people to select a poem, carry it with them and share it with others by reading it or distributing copies.
Twitter users can follow poetry events taking place nationwide at @POETSorg or tweet theirs using #npm15 and #pocketpoem.
Diversebooks.net invites you to celebrate with us by reading about important poets. Books suitable for National Poetry Month available on www.DiverseBooks.net at significant discounts include books from the “Conversations With” series published by the University of Mississippi Press. Each volume is a compilation of interviews with literary figures. Among poets in the series are Nikki Giovanni, Gwendolyn Brooks and Yusef Kounyakaa
Conversations with Nikki Giovanni, edited by Virginia C. Fowler, $22.50, (List price: $25), University of Mississippi Press, ISBN: 9780878055876, pp. 264.
This collection includes 22 interviews spanning two decades with Giovanni, who emerged as one of the stars of the Black Arts Movement and remains a beloved and lauded poet. Over the years, she has evolved from being the fiery young woman who helped define and express the aims of a revolution into a wise elder who gives voice to emotions and thoughts others struggle to articulate.
She is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Institute of Technology, in Blacksburg, Virginia, where she has taught since 1987. Now in her 70s, she continues to write and make public appearances. She published her first book of poetry, Black Feeling Black Talk, in 1968, and went on to publish more than 30 books for adults and children, most recently Bicycles: Love Poems in 2009, according to her website.
