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Feature
April is National Poetry Month
National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry established by the Academy of American Poets. The concept is to widen the attention of individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic heritage, and to poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic range and concern. The hope is to increase the visibility and availability of poetry in popular culture while acknowledging and celebrating poetry’s ability to sustain itself in the many places where it is practiced and appreciated.
Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets throughout the United States band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events. This year's Poetry Month gala celebration will be held the evening of April 28th, entitled Poetry & the Creative Mind, and is free to attend virtually. (See more details below.)
In the fall of 2021, students in grades 9 through 12 were invited to enter artwork to be considered for the official April 2022 National Poetry Month poster. The winner was determined by Nikki Grimes, New York Times-bestselling author and poet and Rafael López, New York Times-bestselling illustrator, now has their artwork featured on 100,000 posters that will be distributed for free to schools, libraries, bookstores, and families nationwide for the April 2022 celebration of National Poetry Month. 170 high school students from across the country responded to an open call for submissions, and thirteen students from seven different states were named finalists.
The finalists’ artwork, which features an excerpt from “In This Place (An American Lyric)” by Amanda Gorman, is shown alongside the artist statements the students have provided about their work. This year's Poetry Month poster's slogan, "There's a Poem in This Place," comes from this Amanda Gorman poem, and the winning poster was designed by eleventh grader Lara L. from Saunders Trades and Technical High School in Yonkers, New York. Here's an excerpt of what Lara said about her poster design:
"Before speaking about this piece, I feel it’s important to discuss what I interpreted from this poem, which was the fact that everyone in America has their own story to tell whether it’s tragic, or hopeful, or joyful. Through making a piece where the main focal point is mouths speaking out, I tried to convey those voices and their stories that they share. I decided to have mouths that vary in size because I believed a main key to the message I was trying to convey was that it's so important to listen to voices big or small. By having the voices speaking in front of the newspaper clippings I tried to emphasize the importance of listening to people’s stories, because sometimes we can’t hear what people have to say due to misinformation and the media’s monopoly on our world."
In This Place (An American Lyric)
by Amanda Gorman