Today is not only Maya Angelou’s birthday, it’s also a day with a lot of poetry news floating about. I’m sure that Maya Angelou wouldn’t mind if you browsed a few news bites along with your cake and ice cream. Here are just a few things that caught my attention:
— Delaware’s Poet Laureate Fleda Brown gives us an enjoyable take on the question National Poetry Month: What for?
— Syrian poet and playwright Mohammed al-Maghout died on Monday at age 72. Unfortunately I’m not really familiar with his work, but plan to spend some time acquainting myself with his satire.
— As astonishing as it may sound, Reporters Without Borders reports that seven Burmese students were arrested for for writing and publishing a pro-democracy poem.
— Don’t call it a comeback … Even though she’s no Ginsberg, Elizabeth Bishop is very much all the rage. Jessica Winter of the Village Voice offers a peek inside the one-woman show A Safe Harbor for Elizabeth Bishop.
— Poetry magazine is featuring 29 poems in translation during the month of April. Those same poems will be available as podcasts at poetryfoundation.org.
— I just knew there had to be some Ginsberg in here somewhere! Jeff Simon of the Buffalo News serves up some glimpses of a few tasty poetry new releases, including a new book on Cole Porter, views into poetry by Cynthia Ozick and Edward Hirsch (separately) and a new audio collection due out on April 18: Poetry On Record: 98 Poets Read Their Work (1888-2006), which looks like it will be quite good. There’s even a bit about the new Elizabeth Bishop collection.
— But wait! There’s more! Also mentioned is the release of ‘Howl‘ Fifty Years Later – The Poem That Changed America edited by Jason Schindler is hosting an event to coincide with this new anthology on April 17th. Guests include Rick Moody and Mark Doty — more information on this event can be found here.
That just about wore me out, so I’ll stop there, but there are so many events and releases happening in honor of National Poetry Month, you don’t have to look too far to find something that’s just your speed. Enjoy.
