As previously announced, Cave Wall is fundraising to establish the Nina Riggs Poetry Award. They are sooooo  close to their target amount and are now offering a sweet GIANT RAFFLE to help them reach their goal.

Check out the HUGE list of prizes here. Everyone who donates any amount will be entered in the raffle. A win no matter what!

In discussing the award with me, Cave Wall Editor Rhett Trull offered this beautiful reminiscence:

When Nina got pregnant, she was told by a poetry colleague, “Oh no, here come the motherhood poems.” Years later, when I got pregnant, a different colleague told me, “Whatever you do, just don’t start writing motherhood poems.” We knew they were teasing, but it bothered us. And of course, we ignored it and wrote whatever we wanted to write, whatever we were moved to write. Because that’s what we do as poets, all of us: we write toward the heart. I used to hear, all the time, “Don’t write poems about grandmothers and dead pets.” Well, that’s ridiculous. You can write about ANYTHING. Just write it well, write beyond subject and self, toward the greater truths to which all subjects lead us if we let them. At Cave Wall, we’ve published some beautiful poems about grandmothers and dead pets, once in the same poem and wow, is it a knockout. Anyway, Nina believed all subjects worthy of poetry. And I hope with this award, we can encourage and celebrate writing that mines the everyday for its beauty and truth, as well as writing about relationships and family and, yes, motherhood, too. All of it. All the small and big and wondrous things that connect us, that shine a light on the ordinary revealing that everything is extraordinary if we take a moment to see it.

A great idea to celebrate the 200th birthday of Walt Whitman,The Poetry Motel Foundation and the Hudson Valley Writers Guild will hold a public reading of “Song of Myself” on May 31 at the Robert Burns Statue, Washington Park, Albany, NY. 

If you’re in the area, they are looking for readers to help manage some of the 1300 lines in 52 sections. For those not nearby – perhaps arranging a public reading in your own town would be a wonderful commemoration of the poet in keeping with “most of Whitman’s work . . . [a] celebration of the individual, of the nation, and of the spiritual possibility within us all.”

Now in its 13th LUCKY year, the August Poetry Postcard Festival is opening registration earlier than usual, starting May 1!

Teachers, students, writers, readers, traditional postal mail lovers – this is YOUR kind of festival! Super easy and fun to participate in! Once you sign up, you’ll get a list of 32 names (yours included), and starting in mid-July (so they start arriving in August), you write an original poem on a postcard and mail it to the name after yours on the list. Then, each day, new postcard, new poem, next name on the list, and so on, until you have written 31 poems and sent them away to their eagerly awaiting recipients (write 32 poems if you want to send yourself one!).

I LOVE this event and have been doing it from its inception. Every year brings new challenges and new delights. Writing a poem a day seems easy enough, but some days, the inspiration is more difficult than others. Still, every year, getting postcards (nearly) daily in the mailbox is such a joy! And there are a few brave souls who continue writing throughout the year – I’m still getting the occasional postcard with numbers in the hundreds or two-hundreds. Wow! 

Really, of all the events I’ve attended over my years, none have been as inexpensive nor as rewarding as this one. In 2018 there were 293 participants from 7 countries and 31 states/provinces, so a huge thanks to poet Paul Nelson, one of the APPF founders as well as Director of Seattle Poetry LAB.

What are you waiting for? Sign up TODAY!

Monmouth University has announced a new way for students to earn a degree. The MA/MFA dual degree program in Creative Writing prepares writers for their future by offering publishing experience, an award-winning faculty, and flexible course offerings.

Once completing an MA in English with a Creative Writing concentration, MFA students then have 18 additional credits of creative writing study which includes the completion of a book-length Creative Thesis.

Learn more about the dual degree and find out what else the program has to offer at the Monmouth University website.

The editors of Cave Wall poetry magazine have put in great effort to create The Nina Riggs Poetry Award to honor their late friend and poet, author of The Bright Hour  and Lucky Lucky.

This crowd-funded award will be given annually to at least one poet for “the finest writing that examines relationships, family, or domestic life” in honor of Nina’s own “beautiful work on many subjects, including relationships and domestic life. She knew how to savor every moment of her too-short life, and in her poetry and her memoir, she explores the poignancy and love that resonate in the details of every day.”

Nominations are made by individuals who read poems that honor family or relationships in some way that have been published within the last three years. There is no application process; readers simply send in a copy of the poem. Readers can nominate up to six poems (no self-nominations). Each winner will receive $500 with the possibility of attending a reading in Greensboro, NC. See complete guidelines here.

The Nina Riggs Poetry Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)3, so all donations are tax-deductible. Donations are currently being accepted with donors at certain levels being recognized by Cave Wall online and in print.

To read more about Nina Riggs and make a donation, go to FundRazr: Nina Riggs Poetry Foundation.

Scholastic News Kids Press Corps, a team of Kid Reporters from across the country and around the world that covers “news for kids, by kids” is taking applications. Students ages 10–14 with a passion for telling great stories and discussing issues that matter most to kids are encouraged to apply for the 2019–2020 school year. All applications must be received by May 31, 2019.

Kid Reporters gain valuable writing and critical-thinking skills in addition to hands-on journalism experience through their work covering local and national current events, and interviewing news-makers. Their stories are published online at the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps website, as well as in issues of Scholastic Classroom Magazines, which reach more than 25 million students in the United States.

Past Kid Reporters have interviewed notable figures, including:

• Anderson Cooper, CNN news anchor
• Marian Wright Edelman, President and Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund
• Dav Pilkey, creator of the best-selling Dog Man and Captain Underpants series
• Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• James Corden, host of the Late Late Show on CBS

[From Royivia Ferguson, Publicist, Corporate Communications at Scholastic]

The Academy of American Poets offers a plethora of FREE resources for celebrating National Poetry Month!

Of course, there’s the iconic poster, this year featuring artwork by Julia Wang, a high school student from San Jose California, who won the inaugural poster contest. You can download the poster as well as order a free paper copy while supplies last.

April 18 is Poem in Your Pocket Day – carry around a poem (or two or three) in your pocket to share by reading to people throughout the day. The Academy offers a selection of pocket-sized poems to download and carry.

Dear Poet is a multimedia education project for youth in grades five through twelve who can write letters in response to poems they read. Teachers are provided a full curriculum which aligns with Common Core.

In addition to all of this, Poets.org has a full page of programming resources for teachers, readers, writers, students, and librarians. That pretty much means for all of us! So check it out and get geared up!

I often run across commentary related to writers’ frustrations with submitting to literary magazines, running into the Wall of Rejection, and rants against The Establishment perceived in many long-standing publications/academically-connected journals. Often, new publications are started by writers attempting to break down the barriers for other writers, promising to give consideration to those totally-unknown authors as well as those who do not come with a highly-acclaimed workshop/colony/MFA pedigree. Stick around literary publishing long enough, and the repetitions become easy to sort, but nonetheless, heartfelt and real for those going through them for the first time.

Anette Gendler, in her post “The Year I Gave Up Submitting to Literary Magazines” in Women Writers, Women[‘s] Books, took a look at her publishing record a few years back, “As 2015 drew to a close, I reviewed my submissions log and noted that 25 submissions to literary magazines had yielded zero acceptances.” After considering the usual self-blame (“not enough effort, I should have submitted more”), Gendler considered her record for the years prior: 32 submissions/0 acceptances; 68 submissions/0 acceptances.

For many reading this, I know the first thought: Maybe she’s just not that good.

Consider her previous publication credits: Bella Grace, Washington Independent Review of Books, Tablet Magazine, Thread, Wall Street Journal, and, for a period of time before this ‘dry spell’: Flashquake, South Loop Review, Under the Sun, Bellevue Literary Review, Kaleidoscope, Natural Bridge, and Prime Number Magazine.

She’s been published. She just wasn’t seeing the results that would encourage her to continue banging her head against that Wall. Yet, she asked herself, “Could I abandon the mothership?” She did, and instead, “I focused on the publications whose work I truly admired and loved to read, and that’s where I kept submitting.”

The result? “It’s not that suddenly all my work gets accepted, but the rate is much higher,” Gendler writes. “I now look at my submissions in terms of publications I want to get into. I think about what I could write for  them.”

After reading Gendler’s commentary and seeing it had been a few years, I wondered, “Where is she now?” with her stance on lit mags, so I reached out to her to ask.

“My approach has pretty much stayed the same since then,” she wrote, “I don’t submit to literary magazines anymore. Not doing so was essentially a course correction for me. Literary magazines are just not the right market for my work, even though I write literary nonfiction and memoir.”

As well, since that time, she has published her first book, Jumping Over Shadows: A Memoir. Ironically, a lit mag editor, having read her post, asked her to submit something for their journal. She did, and they published The Flying Dutchman, an excerpt from her book.

Just what fans of Jane Austen need: Our own society of Austen lovers!

Started by Henry G. Burke, J. David Grey, and Joan Austen-Leigh, the great-great grand niece of Jane, the Jane Austen Society of North America “is dedicated to the appreciation of Jane Austen and her writing. Join us in celebrating her life, her works, and her genius.”

JASNA hosts a three-day conference each fall that includes lectures by Austen scholars and JASNA members, exhibits, workshops, and a banquet and Regency ball. Yes, a ball! Each year, the conference is themed with a reading list provided in advance.

The 2019 conference (200 Years of Northanger Abby: “Real Solemn History”) will be held in Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia on October 4-6, and the 2020 conference (Jane Austen’s Juvenilia: Reason, Romanticism, and Revolution) will be in Cleveland, Ohio, October 9-11.

In addition to the conference, JASNA publishes peer reviewed journals, a  newsletter, book reviews, and holds an annual student essay contest. JASNA also has an International Visitor Support Program which provides a $3,250 fellowship to assist with travel and research expenses.

For more information, visit the JASNA website.

Approached by Canada’s Arc Poetry Magazine, with a grant from the Community Foundation, rob mclennan created four, hour-long literary walks – Arc Poetry Walks – that take participants on a tour of several Ottawa neighborhoods, each featuring poetry-related sites. Following each IRL event, mclennan posted the text from the walk on his blog along with photos and related links. Above/Ground Press created a broadside “poem handout” for each event. A great resource for those interested in learning more about Ottawa literary culture/history, and a helpful blueprint for others who might be interested in replicating this kind of event. [Photo by Chris Johnson]

A Broadsided Press recent call for “Multilingual Writing” resulted in In Praise of Polyphony, 2018, a folio of six broadsides from writers and artists who “think/feel/see in English, Spanish, Finnish, Yiddish, Chinese, Italian, Polish, and Russian. In narrative, metaphor, sound, ink, photograph, shape, and color.”

Like all broadsides from Broadsided Press, the folio is available for free download.

Writers featured: Maija Mäkinen, Jeni De La O, Piotr Gwiazda, Diana Anaya, Allison Escoto, Ching-In Chen.

Artists featured: Anya Ermak, Bailey Bob Bailey, Cheryl Gross, Antonia Contro, Undine Brod, Barbara Cohen.

Today is the day. Vote411.org for information.

“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.

To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.

To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”

― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Toni Morrison said, “The function of freedom is to free someone else.”

“If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don’t bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishments of the two major parties, who please rest assured are not dumb, and who are keenly aware that it is in their interests to keep you disgusted and bored and cynical and to give you every possible reason to stay at home doing one-hitters and watching MTV on primary day. By all means stay home if you want, but don’t bullshit yourself that you’re not voting. In reality, there is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard’s vote.”

― David Foster Wallace, Up, Simba!

Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”

“Too many people fought too hard to make sure all citizens of all colors, races, ethnicities, genders, and abilities can vote to think that not voting somehow sends a message.” ― Luis Gutierrez

The English Department at Ohio Northern University has opened a new Single Poem Broadside contest for currently enrolled high school juniors and seniors.

Young writers may submit one original, self-authored poem of 30 lines or less by November 1, 2018 in any form, style or aesthetic approach.

ONU Associate Professor of Creative Writing Dr. Jennifer Moore [pictured] will judge the submissions.

The winning entry will receive $100, letterpress broadside publication of the poem, ten copies, and the ONU English Department Talent Award of $4000 per year for four years (upon application and acceptance to ONU).

For more contests open to young writers and publications for young writers and readers, visit the NewPages Young Writers Guide.

Broadsided Press has recently added a section to their site: Teach. It’s a growing area of their work and will feature lesson plans for teachers interested in using broadsides in the classroom. It currently includes plans for Grades 6-8 and Adults/University: “Broadsides as Adventure and Architecture,” “Writing a Photographic Poem,” and “Graduate Poetry Workshop – 4 Weeks on Ekphrasis.” The content is appropriate for working in a structured educational setting or in a community center or other organization of writers. For teachers, Broadsided Press welcomes you to share your lesson plan/article for publication consideration.

Carve Magazine, which offers readers new “honest fiction,” poetry, nonfiction, illustrations, and interviews in its quarterly print publication has even more to offer in its online Carve Classroom.

For teachers, Carve can re-print bulk orders of back issues (most of which are sold out in single copy), and also provides free lesson plans for single stories online. The lesson plans are availabe to download as Word documents and include a link to the story, some of which feature audio readings. The plans include group activites, discussion prompts, and critical reading and writing exercises. Just in time for the new school year!

For writers, Carve offers online writing classes exploring elements of craft. Writers can choose a self-study or community platform option, with six weekly lessons composed of assigned readings, notes on a particular craft element, questions to apply to the assigned reading, and writing exercises to practice the craft. Self-study students receive guided feedback on the reading and writing assignments (NOT manuscript critiques). The community platform options utilizes Wet Ink for a full course interaction with peers.

Also available for writers is a manuscript critique service, and for readers and writers alike, there is a free sign-up for Carve Tips for Writers delivered weekly to your mailbox or using RSS Feed or Apple News.

Much to be discovered and enjoyed at Carve!

Perfect for the start of the new school year – whether or not you’re a student! The Southeast Review is offering its second Writer’s Regimen for poets, essayists, and fiction writers who would benefit from incorporating structure into their daily writing practice – or perhaps get a daily practice started! Editor Dorothy Chan explains:

This October, The Southeast Review 30-Day Writer’s Regimen returns with daily prompts, daily exercises, and daily quotes to cure your writer’s block and give you an endless source of creative inspiration! We’ve added daily themes, so get ready to immerse yourself into different worlds every day! We’re also proud to announce craft talks by esteemed writers Ching-In Chen, Kao Kalia Yang [pictured], Sam Herschel Wein, and Timothy Liu. Registration is open now. This October, write lots of short stories and poems you’ll be proud of. We hope you enjoy our regimen!

In addition to all the daily features, Writer’s Regimen offer flashback craft talks from previous WRs for “more writing heavyweights” as well as a free copy of The Southeast Review.

For a PDF sample of the first regimen day, click here. Chan says, “This summer we’ve decided to innovate the regimen by including themes, and you’ll notice the theme of Day 1 is ‘secrets.’ These themes will carry on for a few days and each day, subscribers will experience a variation of that theme. Other themes include translation, the body, Hollywood, and seduction.”

A while back, NewPages introduced Under a Warm Green Linden online poetry journal which had expanded its publication efforts to include environmental activism under its “Green Mission.” This mission promises to donate a portion of its proceeds to reforestation efforts (through the Arbor Day Foundation and the National Forest Foundation).

To date, Under a Warm Green Linden has funded the planting of 170 trees, and with the help of poetry lovers, hopes to continue this effort. One easy way to participate is by purchasing their limited edition broadsides which accompany each new journal issue. These are bea-u-ti-ful prints – I know because I have purchased every one of them! They are reproduced on high quality paper, full color, carefully packaged for safe shipping and, best of all, SIGNED by the authors. Pictured: “Song of Extinction” by David Axelrod.

Under a Warm Green Linden has also begun publishing chapbooks and has two available for purchase: Tempo Rubato  by Boyer Rickel, A Place Where One  by Barbara Cully, and bonehouse  by Erika Brumett (forthcoming).

Broadsided Press art and poetry collaboration posters are available for free download and postering all about town as well as in PDF to share electronically.

August’s Broadsided collaboration with words by Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello and art by Elizabeth Terhune resulted in “Ghost Mantis.”

In addition to their ongoing CFS, Broadsided is looking for “multilingual writing” for a special edition: “Many writers grow up in or become part of families and communities that speak more than one language, and at Broadsided Press, we think that’s worth celebrating. In this special ‘Broadsided Responds’ feature, we will offer a folio of work that speaks between and with multiple languages.”

If you’re traveling anywhere near Montgomery, Alabama, consider spending the night in the former home of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald which now houses the Fitzgerald Museum and a two-bedroom apartment. “This historic home houses the only dedicated museum to F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald in the world. The family lived here from 1931 until 1932, writing portions of their respective novels, Save Me The Waltz  and Tender Is The Night,  during their time here.”

The apartment is listed on Airbnb and can be rented for $150 a night. Guests can also visit the museum during its open hours, maybe helping make Montgomery your destination!

As a kid (and adult for that matter) who was forever unable to remember her numerical lock combinations, what3words is the most brilliant invention of all time. And who among us readers/writers can’t absolutely fall in love with this concept: The entire planet mapped out in three meter squares with each one assigned a unique three-word sequence.

Download the app to your phone, and no matter where you go, you can find you three-word location. Give your three-word location to someone, and they can find you!

I can only imagine that some poets have already gotten a hold of this and are integrating it into their writing – right? How about engaging young students in both geography and writing. Come up with three words, put them in, and see where that location is – the possibilities are endless and exciting! Check it out for yourself!

Not to rush your summer, but July 4th signals the opening of registration for the annual August Poetry Postcard Festival!

This is a FAVORITE event for me and many others who have been doing it since it started over ten years ago, as well as for newbies – who are always welcome to join!

Visit Paul E Nelson’s webpage for full instructions, but the basic premise is this: Registrants are grouped with 31 other participants and each group member gets a list of names and addresses. You start with the name below yours on the list and each day, write a poem on a postcard and send it to that person. The next day, you go to the next name on the list, write, send, repeat. 

The idea is to be spontaneous in writing these poems. They aren’t supposed to be prewritten (although some folks do type or reprint for the sake of legibility), and as much as possible, written in the moment. In the past, I’ve known a writer to focus on colors as a theme, another randomly landed on a word in the dictionary and made that their inspiration. Since the only requirement is to write and send a card a day, the rest is up to each writer’s imagination and motivation. The postcards can be anything at all – some people make their own, some use photos, others are cheesy tourist postcards, some are vintage – it’s totally up to the sender.

There is a $10 registration fee to help handle the oversight. I’m happy to pay this, and the domestic and occassional international postage – considering how much I spend on conferences each year, some of which I walk away from wondering what I gained from them. The APPF has never disappointed. Not only has it inspired my own writing in numerous ways, there is something so uniquely enjoyable about going to the mailbox each day, wondering what I might be gifted from another poet out there somewhere in the world.

Challenge yourself to do this. Participate. Enjoy it. Struggle through it. At the end of the month, you’ll feel enormous satisfaction and even a bit a sadness that it’s over.

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) is a general term used to identify this non-profit resource that can be found in numerous communities across the country. VLAs provide low-cost or free legal aid and guidance to artists and organizations, and some will even provide consultation to artists from areas that do not have their own VLA. In the past, I’ve received phone consults from the VLA in New York prior to Michigan having its own organization. Some, such as the St. Louis VLAA include Accountants for the Arts as well. The VLAA website has a directory of VLAs with the advice that if you do not see your state listed to contact your state arts council.

[Pictured: Alma Robinson, Executive Director of Califorinia Lawyers for the Arts]

The Great American Read is an eight-part series from PBS that “explores and celebrates the power of reading, told through the prism of America’s 100 best-loved novels (as chosen in a national survey). It investigates how and why writers create their fictional worlds, how we as readers are affected by these stories, and what these 100 different books have to say about our diverse nation and our shared human experience.”

The series kicked off with a two-hour launch in May and continued with five one-hour episodes examining concepts common to the eligible novels. The finale – planned for October 2018 – will announce the results of the nation-wide vote to select America’s best-loved book.

The Great American Read website includes all the programs for online viewing as well as the list of 100 books and directions on how to vote for your best-loved novels from the list.

Brevity‘s Social Media Editor Allison K Williams offers some great advice and resources for anyone considering “Going Hybrid” – using a hybrid model for book publishing. Williams offers clarification on “self-publishing” vs. hybrid publishing against the backdrop of traditional publishing, and provides consideration of such criteria as time, bookstore placement, royalty split, subsidiary rights, editing, production quality and marketing.

Last month, DM O’Connor reviewed EJ Koh’s collection of poems Lesser Love. In addition to being selected winner of the Pleiades Press Editors Prize for Poetry in 2017, O’Connor offers this praise: “It is clear that each page stands alone as an example of true contemporary poetry. It is clear you should buy this book, memorize all the poems, then give it to a friend who need to be affirmed that poetry is far from dead.”

At the close of the review, O’Connor notes that Koh will even write love letters to her readers, just for the asking. Intrigued, I visited her website, where she states, “I am writing a thousand love letters to strangers by hand.”

Her July 26, 2016 blog post entitled, “It’s Okay, I Love You” explains how she came to this task, beginning the entry with:

“The past nine months, my life has become unrecognizable. When I say this out loud, it means who I am is unrecognizable. But I now see myself for the first time.

“In February, I hoped to write again; beginning was also deciding. I’d once said, ‘I’m sick of writing because I’m sick of myself.’ To be kinder towards my person, I didn’t go back to that place. On a Friday evening, I was pressed for new perspective. I decided to handwrite a thousand love letters.”

She goes on to explain why the handwriting, why the love – which seems it needs less explaining in our current world that feels imbued with endless hate.

So, I wrote to EJ. I sent her an e-mail, including some details about myself, as she requests, “& add a struggle,” which I did. A couple weeks later, I received a hand-addressed envelope postmarked from Seattle. By then, I had forgotten about my request, and didn’t know EJ was on the west coast, so I was pleasantly surprised to open the envelope and find a two-page, handwritten “love letter.” Mine was numbered 62, and included thoughtful commentary and insight gleaned from information I had shared with her, including my struggle.

A love letter? If love means reaching out to a total stranger, to recognize the work they do, what they care about and what they are struggling with; to treat someone with concern and care and affirmation; to not judge and to just be kind and share in someone’s perspective with seriousness and some humor – then yes. This was the best love letter I’ve ever received.

What a difference writers can make in another person’s life. And all it takes is who we are and what we have, shared with another. So simple, so (nearly) free, and yet – so profound.

My thanks to EJ. I hope others who share in this experience have as great an appreciation. May we all “promise to notice our light every day.”

Every year, the National Writing Project selects five outstanding student writers, grades 10 and 11, who have received a national Scholastic Art & Writing Award for poetry. These Student Poets are invited to share in a conversation and read their poetry. This year’s event, NWP Radio – A Conversation with National Student Poets, will take place Thursday, April 12 at 4:00 p.m. PDT / 7:00 p.m. EDT. The audio for event will be available the day of on the NWP Radio page along with their full archive of NWP Radio programs.

Journal of the Month is an incredible resource for writers, readers, teachers, students, librarians – does that leave anyone out?

As a general subscriber, you will receive a new literary journal by the tenth of each month, never receiving the same publication twice during your subscription. If you already subscribe to some journals, you just let them know, and they will choose others for you. Yes, there are human beings making these selections, not automated machines!

For teachers, Co-Founder Jenn Scheck-Kahn (aka one of the humans behind this marvelous enterprise), will work with you to select four magazines you’d like to teach. Each student will then receive one publication a month – based on a delivery schedule you develop together, so that the publications arrive in advance of when you plan to teach them. Instructors receive a free set of the copies they plan to teach. Now is the time to plan those readings for the next school year!

Journal of the Month is a super easy gift idea! If you have writers or readers on your holiday or birthday list, what better way to support their interests!

Subscribers can select from 4, 6, 8, 12, and even 24 months.

Try it! See if you like it (how could you not?!), then sign up for more!

Join in National Poetry Month celebrations!

While supplies last, you can request a free copy of the 2018 National Poetry Month poster from the Academy of American Poets, designed by AIGA Medal and National Design Award-winning designer Paula Scher. The design celebrates typography and is suggestive of concrete poetry and Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.

April 26 is Poem in Your Pocket Day. Carry a poem with you and share it with others! The Academy of American Poets provides a PDF Guide to Celebrating Poetry in Schools, Communities & Businesses, which includes a selection of pocket-sized poems (also cellphone, snapshot sized). Carry and share!

Teach This Poem features a poem each week from the Academy’s online collection accompanied by commentary and interdisciplinary resources and activities. Good for K-12 as well as early college.

Dear Poet Project invites grades five through twelve (Common Core lesson plan available) to write letters in response to poems written by poets connected with the Academy of American Poets. Deadline: April 30, 2018 for consideration for publication on Poets.org in 2018 as well as select letters receiving a response.

ReadWriteThink, the educational resource partnering with National Council of Teachers of English and International Literacy Association, provides classroom activities, websites, and related resources for teachers and parents of K-12 students.

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry, is all online all the time, providing poetry, poet biographies, news and educaitonal resources for all levels.

Reading Rockets, the national multimedia project from WETA Public Broadcasting, has a full page of resources: Poets on Poetry videos; Learning Through Poetry links to resources and organizations; Poetry Booklists; Video interviews with children’s poets; ideas for librarians; and a full list of activities.

American Life in Poetry features a weekly poem with brief commentary from Poet Laurate of the United States 2004-2006 Ted Kooser. Print and online news sources can sign up to reprint the columns.

NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April. Best to sign up early, but check it out this year to prepare yourself for next!

In her craft essay in the February 2018 #133 issue of Glimmer Train’s Bulletin, Danielle Lazarin tells readers to “Question Everything” as she does in her own drafting process. Her essay opens:

“On some days, my writing notebooks look like an inquisition, my pages topped and ended with questions: in all-caps, underlined, circled. Many are small: What do the kids want to be called? What is her work? Handwriting=obsessive or careless? Maybe she cries on the subway home, after dinner? But they’re big, too: What is true, the memory of it, or the moment? Is she lacking? DO WE REQUIRE HOPE?  Though they may appear frantic, a series of scribbled questions aren’t signs of confusion or desperation but of sufficient curiosity on my part to propel a story forward. At every stage of my work, questions are my most essential writing tools. I use them to move through to the other side of murky. It’s only by stepping into that unknown and uncomfortable space repeatedly during my process that I can become more deliberate in the story I’m telling.”

Also included in this month’s GT Bulletin are Thomas Fox Averill’s “Writing Archival Fiction” and Aline Ohanesian “On Rejection.” The Bulletin is free to read online and have delivered monthly to your e-mail.

Intellectual Freedom Blog hosted by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, a unit of the American Library Association, provides “a venue for coverage of time-sensitive news in intellectual freedom and librarianship.” The topics, however, are of interest to a much wider audience, including writers, readers, and academics – teachers, students, and administrators. Recent post titles include: “Is There a Connection Between Mental Health and Intellectual Freedom?” by Allyson Mower; “‘The Post,’ the Pentagon Papers, and the Era of Fake News” by Robert Sarwark; “Xicanas/Latinas and Intellectual Freedom in College: When Reading is Political” by Eva Rios-Alvarado; “Reading as a Mirror: Banning the New Jim Crow in New Jersey Prisons” by Jane’a Johnson [pictured]; and weekly roundups of Intellectual Freedom News.

“Bearing Arms: Responding to Guns in American Culture” is the new special “Responses” collection from Broadsided Press. The editors put out a call for visual art and then words in response to those images. All six collaborations – by Maureen Seaton and Jonathan Clyde Frey; Jonathan Baxter and Dixie Salazar; Daniel Aristi and Sandra Cohen; Melissa Fite Johnson and David Kamm; Jennifer Perrine and Kristen Woodward; and Gregory Stapp and Osceola Refetoff – are available for free, full-color download to print, post, and share in your communities. Please do so!

The Editors at Broadsided Press write:

We have, according to the constitution, the right “to keep and bear arms” in the United States. But how, in the wake of Las Vegas, Pulse, Sandy Hook, Trayvon Martin, and other abuses of firearms—by citizens and in some cases by those trained to protect and serve—do we bear that right? How do we bear it?

At Broadsided, we believe that art and literature belong in our daily lives. They inspire and demonstrate the vitality and depth of our connection with the world. We had to speak out—we had to make a space for you to speak out—on this issue as part of our ongoing “Broadsided Responds” feature.

We put out a call to visual artists asking for submissions. Work came from all over the country, in all media. Powerful, provocative, dynamic work. Guest Arts Editor Stacy Isenbarger selected six pieces that offer a range of attitudes, aesthetics, and opportunities. Of her decision, Stacy has this to say:

How do we confront that of which we already hold tightly? Collectively, these chosen works offer a dimensional conversation of this weighted issue. Some may suggest a boundary of societal judgement, but they don’t necessarily reveal what side they are one. Instead these pieces offer evolving space. They welcome an opportunity for viewers to discuss how we bear that which touches our lives.

We now ask you to respond with words to six works of visual art by Sandra Cohen, Jonathan Frey, David Kamm, Osceola Refetoff, Dixie Salazar, and Kristen Woodward.

See full images and guidelines here.

When you submit your writing, be sure to be clear as to which piece you are responding.

DEADLINE: December 27, 2017.

Puerto Rico En Mi Corazon is a collection of broadsides of contemporary Puerto Rican poets, in English and in Spanish. Edited by Raquel Salas Rivera and Erica Mena, published by Anomalous Press, 100% of sales will be donated directly to Taller Salud to assist Puerto Rico in recovering from Hurricane Maria. Including poems by Yara Liceaga, Raquel Albarrán, Luis Diaz (Intifada), Gaddiel Francisco Ruis Rivera, Nicole Delgado, Raquel Salas Rivera, Kadiri Vaquer Fernández, Martín Espada, Hermes Ayala, Ricardo Maldonado, Gegman Lee Ríos, Kenyatta JP García, Claritza Maldonado, Lara Mimosa Montes, Vincent Toro, Cindy Jimenez Vera, Luis Othoniel, Erica Mena, Abdiel Echevarria, and others.

For either 12 or 24 hours starting at 9am on August 5, 2017, an elite group of writers entered into – and finished – the annual Poetry Marathon. This was my second year I entered only the half marathon, writing one poem per hour for 12 hours, from 9am – 9pm.

While this may sound ‘easy’ enough at first thought, it’s a far more grueling commitment than most can imagine – just like running a marathon or half marathon. I mean, how many of us can run? Run a mile? Run five or ten? It’s when the miles – and poems and hours – start adding one on top of another that the breakdown enters in. In marathon running, they call it “hitting the wall.” Even though running – or writing poetry – is something you love to do, the constraints of time and goal of a numerical accomplishment push that relationship to its limits.

Started by Caitlin Jans (Thompson) and Jacob Jans in 2011, there have since been six marathons. Every year, hundreds enter their names to compete, and every year, only a fraction of those actually do. This year, 95 poets successfully completed 24 poems in 24 hours and 123 poets successfully completed 12 poems in 12 hours. Congratulations to all on this accomplishment! See a full list of the ‘winners’ here, where the poems are posted via a WordPress site, and the organizers just closed submissions for the second annual anthology of winners’ submissions.

If you missed the marathon this year – and the five other times it’s been held – you may or may not still have a chance to enter. Caitlin and Jacob have announced that the future of the marathon is up in the air. They are looking for someone who might be interested in helping run it, or other options for keeping it going. It’s clearly no ‘easy’ task on their end either, but their efforts to date have been immensely appreciated. I’m sure every one of us who has successfully completed this challenge will forever hold a sense of pride in that accomplishment. As well we should!

Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Arts introduces The Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing to provide a venue and support for young and mid-career U.S. writers. “Grounded in both scholarship and journalism, critical art writing occupies a specific niche. The best examples appeal to a diverse readership through an accessible approach and maintain a unique voice and literary excellence. The Prize will consider submissions of work that has been written (or published) within the last year. A variety of creative approaches and formats to writing on the visual arts are encouraged, and can include thematic essays, exhibition reviews and scholarly essays.”

There is no fee to enter this contest, prizes will be awarded for first ($3000) and two runners up ($1000) as well as print/online publication. Deadline: September 1, 2017.

Toni Beauchamp [pictured] was the president of Art Lies Board from 2002-2004. See the Gulf Coast website for more details.

Visit the new Broadsided Press website to catch up on the most recent art and poetry collaborations available for free, full-color download to post and share. May: “Backyard” – words by Melissa Fite Johnson, art by Amy Meissner; June: “My Father’s Hearing Aid” – words by Adam Chiles, art by Cheryl Gross; July: “Pink” – words by Terese Svoboda, art by Lisa Sette. Each artist and poet give a brief commentary on their work, which provides a great teaching tool for classroom use. Broadsided is looking to build a section of lesson plans for using broadsides in K-12, college, community centers, etc., so if you have some best practices to share, visit their website and click on TEACH.

The Poetry Marathon is an annual event that challenges participants to write 24 poems in 24 hour, posting the writing online via a shared WordPress site. This year’s marathon begins at 9 AM EDT on Saturday, August 5, 2017 and ends at 9 AM on Sunday, August 6, 2017 There is also a half marathon from 9 AM until 9 PM Saturday or 9 PM until 9 AM Sunday. Registration is open from July 20 – 27.

The Poetry Marathon is run (no pun intended) by Caitlin Jans (Thomson) and Jacob Jans, two writers and web publishers living in the Pacific Northwest. There is no charge to participate in the marathon, and in 2016, over 500 writers started the marathon, but many did not finish. Clearly, this is not an activity for the faint of heart.

Last year, I participated in the half marathon and found it to be demanding, frustrating (sometimes forgetting to write my poem!), but in the end immensely rewarding. I have run marathons and half marathons, and the feeling from finishing the Poetry Marathon was very similar. I felt a huge sense of accomplishment, and at the same time, a bit of sadness that it was over. I had posted poems, offered feedback to others, received comments on mine – just like cheering each other on in a foot race. It was sad to be a part of such an intense, similarly driven community of writers, and then, just be done with them. It’s what makes a person want to come back and do it again!

The Poetry Marathon website has an FAQ that answers the burning questions, like: How do I prepare for the Marathon? What if I can’t be at a computer all day? What happens to the poems once I post them? and more. The site also features blog posts from previous participants who offer commentary on their marathon experience. If you’re not sure about the commitment, just try it for a day on your own. See what it takes to get to the computer once an hour and write a poem (or at least write a poem per hour, because you are allowed to “catch up” at the computer if you can’t get to one every hour).

This year, like last year, the organizers plan to publish a Poetry Marathon Anthology of poems written during the marathon. Some writers included in the first anthology: Sheila Sondik, Teri Harroun, Marie Moser, Raven Kingsley, Joan Leotta, J.I. Klienberg, Liam Strong, Will Jackson, Anne McMaster, Ebony Larijani, and Seema Ka.

The eleventh annual August Poetry Postcard Festival is open for 2017 registration – closing July 18.

For you newbies, the August PoPo Fest goes like this: You sign up. You get a list of 31 names/addresses of other people who signed up. Starting late July, you write a poem a day on a postcard and mail it off to the next person on the list, so by the end of the month, you will have (hopefully) written and sent 31 poems and (hopefully) received 31 poems.

The poems are not supposed to be pre-written or something you’ve been working on for months. This is an exercise is the spontaneous, the demanding, the gut-driven, the postcard inspired – whatever it is that gets you to write once a day, each day, and send it off into the world.

Last year, poems from contributors were selected for publication in the 1st Poetry Postcard Fest Anthology, 56 Days of August, Poetry Postcards, to be published October 2017.

I’ve done this event since it began! I don’t always keep to a poem a day; sometimes I get ahead one day, or catch up another, with several poems in one day. But I try my best. The event gets me thinking of poetry in my every day, when I rarely have time for it, and writing it down – something I have time for even more rarely.

I’ve received poems from across the state, the country and around the globe. I’ve gotten postcards made from cereal boxes, some with gorgeous original artwork, and lots of the lovely tacky tourist cards from travel destinations. I have cards from “famous” poets, and some who have since become more famous, and some never signed, so I’ll never know, and it hardly matters. I’ve gotten poetry. Sent to me directly. From strangers. Lovely, strange, absurd, and funny. Poetry.

It’s an amazing event, and I hope you will take the challenge and join in this year. There is a nominal fee for the event ($10). I can only imagine the amount of work it is to run this (with 300+ people participating), and keeping up virtual space to promote it. I’m not dissuaded by the fee, knowing the extraordinary event that it is, and knowing I’ve spent 100 times that on conferences from which I’ve gotten a great deal less inspiration…anyone else?

So, please writers, wanna-bes and needs-a-kick-in-the-arsers, poetry lovers, postcard lovers – this event is for you. Join us! Registration ends July 18!

From the Smithsonian article “Horse-Riding Librarians Were the Great Depression’s Bookmobiles” by Eliza McGraw:

During the Great Depression, a New Deal program brought books to Kentuckians living in remote areas.

In 1936, packhorse librarians served 50,000 families, and, by 1937, 155 public schools. Children loved the program; many mountain schools didn’t have libraries, and since they were so far from public libraries, most students had never checked out a book. “‘Bring me a book to read,’ is the cry of every child as he runs to meet the librarian with whom he has become acquainted,” wrote one Pack Horse Library supervisor. “Not a certain book, but any kind of book. The child has read none of them.”

Read the full article and see more photos here.

The April 2017 broadside collaboration from Broadsided Press is “Overheard at the Zoo” with poetry by Jessica Johnson and art by Se Thut Quon. Poetry lovers/activists are encouraged to print the free PDF broadside and become a vector by posting the work around your town, campus, workplace – wherever the world could use just a bit more poetry.

September 30, 2017 marks the seventh annual global event of 100 Thousand Poets for Change, a grassroots organization that brings poets, artists, musicians, and photographers together to call for environmental, social, and political change, within the framework of peace and sustainability. The local focus is key to this global event as communities around the world raise their voices through concerts, readings, workshops, flash mobs, community picnics, parades and demonstrations that speak to the heart of their specific area of concerns, such as homelessness, ecocide, racism and censorship.

The 100 Thousand Poets for Change website now features a Global Action Calendar open to everyone for posting creative actions planned to take place around the world, as well as the Resistance Poetry Wall, an open call for posting poetry about the recent USA elections. Poets from around the world are invited to post.

100 Thousand Poets for Change wants everyone planning now for their local September events and asks that organizers register their events on the 100 TPC website so your actions can be recognized.

“The Telling Room is a nonprofit writing center in Portland, Maine, dedicated to the idea that children and young adults are natural storytellers.” Focusing on writers ages 6 to 18, The Telling Room offers programs at their downtown writing center, engaging local writers, artists, teachers, and community groups in afterschool workshops, writing assistance, fieldtrips, the “Super Famous Writers Series,” and publishing.

In her feature article for the Glimmer Train Bulletin #122, fiction writer Kimberly Bunker opens “The Fear of Not Saying Interesting Things” with: “For some reason, this doesn’t stop me from talking, but it often stops me from writing.” She continues, commenting on both the necessity of work as well as inspiration for writers. “I think it’s possible to cultivate a mindset that’s receptive to but not obsessive about ideas, and to be methodical about pursuing the ideas that seem worth pursuing—i.e., finding a balance between waiting for lightning to strike, and getting behind the mule.” Read the full article here.

“Drone Confessional” a collaborative broadside with a poem by Kim Garcia and art by Helen Beckman Kaplan is the Broadsided poster for October 2016. Broadsided Press provides the opportunity for writers and artists to come together to create a work to share with Vectors – people who then download the free PDF and post it around their neighborhood, workplace, or travel destination. Each month’s writer and artist also provide commentary on their pieces and the collaborative process.

If you’d like to be a Vector, all you need to do is print and post the broadside. Broadsided Press would also like to encourage colleges and universities to start their own broadside collaborations! Visit their website here for more information.