A call for more poetry activists among the laureates March 29, 2011: In an opinion piece for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Julia Baird laments the relative invisibility of poet laureates among the general public. The deficiency isn't in the public's taste for poetry but rather the title itself, the kind of person it's bestowed upon and what it should require of its bearer. Baird recalls the efforts of Joseph Brodsky [...] by Harriet Staff

Poetry in 1960 Live from the Future! December 6, 2010: Kelly Writers House at University of Pennsylvania will be streaming their symposium "Poetry in 1960" live at 6pm EST tonight, Monday, December 6th. Hosted by Writers House faculty director Al Filreis, the symposium invites eleven poets to each contribute a critical essay on a poem or collection to mark its 50th anniversary. This will most likely [...] by Poetry News

Happy Birthday, Gwendolyn Brooks! June 16, 2009: Remember that poetry is life distilled. —Gwendolyn Brooks June 7, 2009, would have been Gwendolyn Brooks’s 92nd birthday; to join us in celebrating one of America’s greatest poets, check out the Hall Library stop on the Chicago Poetry Tour, which features archival recordings of Brooks reading from and speaking about the span of her work. [...] by Katie Hartsock