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5th Annual Poetry Month Underway

According to Lycos, a leading Internet search engine, "poetry" was the 8th most popular of all search items for 1999.
"The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature."--Walt Whitman

On the page, on the web, in the media, and in gatherings all across the United States, poetry has permeated our culture," observed Bill Wadsworth, Executive Director of The Academy of American Poets, in announcing the fifth National Poetry Month. "More poetry books are being published. More readings are taking place. More children are discovering poetry in and out of the classroom. National Poetry Month provides an opportunity for Americans of all ages to learn more about the tremendous vitality and variety of our contemporary poetry."

"Perhaps the most dramatic instance of poetry's growth in popularity is the Internet," Wadsworth noted. According to Lycos, a leading Internet search engine, "poetry" was the 8th most popular of all search items for 1999. In addition, Lycos lists more than 228,400 poetry websites, as reported in USA Today (February 10, 2000).

From a bicentennial symposium at the Library of Congress to the local cineplex, from the chat rooms of the Internet to the reading rooms of local libraries, poetry will be read, performed, discussed, and brought to life by thousands of individuals and organizations in a broad spectrum of communities and venues throughout the United States and Canada.

Some of the special features of this year's National Poetry Month are as follows:

* 1,800 movie screens nationwide will feature a public service announcement slide for National Poetry Month during March and April, sponsored by Loews Cineplex Entertainment.

* Yahoo! will provide poetry banners for forty days, linking to the Academy's website (www.poets.org), where readers will find a national calendar of NPM events and information.

* American Poetry: The Twentieth Century. In celebration of the publication of its landmark anthology, American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volumes I and II, the Library of America will present a series of discussions and readings with distinguished contemporary poets debating and reflecting on the legacy of the American poetic revolution in the first half of the twentieth century:

o April 1 / Kansas City, MO
Associated Writing Programs Annual Conference and The Academy of American Poets

o April 3 / Seattle, WA
Seattle Arts & Lectures

o April 6 / Los Angeles, CA
Hammer Museum and The Academy of American Poets

o April 12 / Chicago, IL
Newberry Library and Poetry--The Modern Poetry Association

o April 13 / New York, NY
Poets House

o April 18 / New Haven, CT
Beinecke Library, Yale University

o April 20 / Santa Fe, NM
Witter Bynner Foundation

o April 25-26 / Dallas, TX
Dallas Museum of Art

o April 26 / Washington, DC
Library of Congress

o April 26 / New York, NY
The New School and The Academy of American Poets

For more information, please visit the Library of America's website. See our Events Calendar for more Poetry Month events.


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