April is just around the corner and the library will once again be celebrating National Poetry Month with several special events to mark the occasion.
On Sunday April 6th the library will host the Launch Party for U.S. 1 Worksheets, the journal of the U.S. 1 Poets’ Cooperative, at 2 pm in the Community Room. This is the 35th anniversary issue of the journal which includes poets from New Jersey as well as across the entire USA. The launch party will feature readings from U.S.1 Worksheets and a chance to mingle and meet the poets in person.
The following Thursday evening on April 10th the always popular Voices: Multilingual Poetry Night will return at 7 pm. This is a unique event where Princeton-area poets read poems from around the world in their original language followed by English translations. The text of the poem in both languages is projected for all to see making this a multimedia poetry experience. Voices is organized by Carlos Hernández Peña and past readings have included Akkadian, Armenian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Latin, Polish, Russian, Scotts, Spanish, Urdu and Vietnamese.
Sunday April 13th will feature a musical event that focuses on the language of music in a program entitled “Words That Sing and Songs That Speak”. To illustrate how the emotional content of words is enhanced by classical music, Princeton composers Rita Asch and Moshe Budmor will present a live performance of four original works inspired by literary texts. Two Budmor pieces, Three Shakespearean Sonnets for mezzo soprano and guitar and The Sweetest Melody (based on a Hebrew folk tale) for harpsichord, voice, recorder, and clarinet, will share the program with two works by Asch, The Myth of Canens and Picus (based on text by Ovid) for flute, narrator and piano, and Sarabande After Proust for cello, narrator and piano.
The U.S. 1 Poets will return on Wednesday April 23rd at 7:30 pm for their monthly “Poet Invite” Series. The invited poets for April are Bonnie Minick and Christine E. Salvatore. Minick was raised in Glen Gardner and has lived in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Michigan. She completed a master's degree in fine arts at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. She has published poetry in Miller's Pond, Poetry International, Chachalaca Poetry Review and Daedalus. She teaches English at Voorhees High School. Poems by Christine E. Salvatore have recently appeared in The Cortland Review, The Literary Review and The Edison Literary Review. She is the recipient of a 2005 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council of the Arts. She is currently an adjunct professor of writing at Richard Stockton College and teaches English and creative writing at Egg Harbor Township High School.
National Poetry Month will conclude with a reading by Terry Blackhawk on Saturday April 26th at 2 pm. Terry Blackhawk, Ph.D., is the executive director and founder of InsideOut Literary Arts Project in Detroit. Her third collection, Escape Artist, was the winner of BkMk Press’s 2002 John Ciardi Prize. Her poetry has appeared widely in such journals as Nimrod, Michigan Quarterly Review, Calyx, Poet Lore, Southern Poetry Review, Marlboro Review and others. Pudding House Press will publish her in their “Greatest Hits” chapbook series in 2004. She has taught writing courses and workshops for the Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan Youth Arts Festival, Oakland University and the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities. Her awards for writing and teaching include the Foley Poetry Prize, a National Endowment for the Humanities Teacher Scholar Award, two Pushcart Prize poetry nominations, and the Michigan Governor’s Award for Arts Education.
All of these wonderful poetry events will take place in the library’s 1st floor community room. You can also celebrate National Poetry Month every day in April by tuning in to the library’s Poetry Podcast Blog which will launch with a new version on April 1st and by taking part in the first national Poem In Your Pocket Day! The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends on April 17.
Submitted by J. Hermann.