On Elizabeth Bishop by Colm Tóibín The latest in the Princeton University Press series Writers on Writers is a meditation on the poet Elizabeth Bishop by Irish novelist Colm Tóibín . Sprinkling biography and criticism over a deep appreciation of her work Tobin weaves a complex portrait of Bishop while relating his own experiences of loss and exile. Publisher | Amazon What About This: Collected Poems of Frank Stanford By the time he took his own life at age 29 Frank Stanford had already published 10 books of poetry and a collection of short stories; none of them are easy to find. He also left behind...
The Antiquarians Join World Book Day
The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) has joined this year's World Book & Copyright Day celebration in a big way. All over the world antiquarian booksellers will be holding pop-up book fairs to offer "a stunning selection of rare books, prints, manuscripts and ephemera to promote the trade of old and rare books and to support the UNESCO literacy projects in Africa." These pop-up book fairs will surely provide visitors with a chance to peruse jaw-dropping printed material while offering the opportunity to enrich the lives of the kids of South Sudan by providing much needed literacy assistance. From the...
Poetry on the Trails
April is National Poetry Month. National Park Week is set for April 18-26. What a better way to celebrate both cultural assets then to put some poetry in the parks! For the second year in a row the Port Angeles Library, which is part of the Washington State North Olympic Library System, is teaming up with Olympic National Park to create a series of four self-guided walks in the park featuring poetry scattered throughout the landscape. Poets featured include Emily Brontë, Robert Burns, Raymond Carver, E.E. Cummings, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Mary Oliver, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Percy Shelley and Gary Snyder among others. And if your muse is kindled during your visit you're...
There is a problem with the new Maya Angelou stamp
The United States Post Office has joined the National Poetry Month festivities with its release of a limited edition stamp of poet Maya Angelou. Unfortunately there is a pretty big problem, the quote used on the stamp is not Angelou's. It comes from the 1967 book of poems A Cup of Sun by Joan Walsh Anglund and, apparently, it has somehow become over the years attributed to Angelou and her classic work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The Post Office (and most of the rest us) had no idea the quote originated with Anglund. No word yet on what, if any, action the Post Office...
Posters from the University of Arizona Poetry Center: 1960’s Style
Poetry is the food of the spirit, and spirit is the instigator of all revolutions, whether political or personal, whether national, world-wide, or within the life of a single quiet human being. —Ruth Stephan There was a lot of action at the Ruth Stephan Poetry Center in the 1960's. Founded by Stephan the mission of the Poetry Center was simple - to provide a place "to promote poetic literacy and sustain, enrich and advance a diverse literary culture" In 1962 The Poetry Center launched its seminal reading series. Inaugurated by Stanley Kunitz the series has hosted more than 1000 writers over the years including...