2015 marks the 60th anniversary of City Lights Publishers and the beginning of the seminal Pocket Poets Series. It began with a 500 copy letterpress printed edition of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Pictures of a Gone World, his first book, in 1955. In 2011 they published the 60th title in the series, David Meltzer‘s When I Was a Poet. But it was the 4th book in series that single-handedly changed the course of American poetry and put City Lights on the map for good. That was Allen Ginsberg's masterwork, Howl and Other Poems. About the series: Inspired by the French poetry series, Poètes d'aujourd'hui, Lawrence...
Plan to have poets at Farmers Market in Atlantic City deemed waste of money by some lawmakers
Update: The CRDA has bowed to the pressure and has pulled the plug on the planned poetry readings Atlantic City is having some trouble. The little Las Vegas of New Jersey has seen better days. In the last year alone four of its casinos have closed and 8,000 folks lost their jobs. Clearly that puts pressure on The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA), an organization funded by a tax on casino revenue and tasked with running Atlantic City’s Tourism District and promoting economic development. One idea they had to liven things up a bit was to hire some poets...
Independent Bookstore Day is Saturday May, 2
Are you ready for the first ever nationwide Independent Bookstore Day? Building on the success of last year's inaugural California Bookstore Day, independent bookstores across the country are getting ready for this day of celebration. And why not - after a brutal run that saw more than half our independent bookshops wiped out things have stabilized and a glimmer of hope has returned and seems to be getting brighter. Over 400 bookstores are part of the festivities and there is plenty of cool swag being produced for this special day. From signed prints by graphic novelist Chris Ware and Captain Underpants...
On the Education Front: Charter school fail, the end of the road for Corinthian Colleges, kindergarten homework with ads
A new report by the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) and the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) has found that financial fraud, waste, and mismanagement by charter schools has already cost taxpayers more than $200 million. The report, which focused on only 15 states!, shows a complete lack of transparency within the charter school universe and a complete lack of oversight on the federal level. “Charter schools act like they have a ‘get out of accountability free’ card...$200 million dollars that was supposed to go to schools and classrooms is just gone. And that's likely to be the tip...
Poetry is Wanted Here!
We can't let National Poetry Month go by without a taste of some of the poetry goodness that lives within the confines of the Digital Public Library of America. From the postcard above featuring an excerpt from a poem by Alex Caldero proclaiming 'Poetry is wanted here!' to a sampling of dust jackets, to a lunch poem from second graders, poetry is alive and well at DPLA. The First book of poetry [Title-page]. 1811 The pleasures of poetry. (Vol. 2) 1947 Poetry as a means of grace. The poetry of the Bible, a new anthology Poetry Week at Miss Duckett Monroe School Washington,...