In a February blog post on State Poets Laureate I mentioned that From the Catbird Seat would periodically update readers when new State Poets are appointed. During the past five weeks there have been a flurry of changes to State Poet positions, making this an opportune time to give a brief roundup of recent activity. …
This post addresses one of the most common questions received by the Library’s Poetry and Literature Center: How is the Poet Laureate selected? Since the presidential election season is upon us, I should first hasten to point out that Poet Laureate is not appointed the same way as the U.S. president: there are no Poet …
Today the capital is quiet―Congress is on recess, and many DC residents are on vacation somewhere else. Even the throngs of summer tourists have subsided a bit as the season is winding down. As we at the Poetry and Literature Center prepare for our new Poet Laureate’s opening reading and the season that lies ahead―and …
The following is a guest post by Abby Yochelson, English and American Literature Reference Specialist at the Library of Congress’s Main Reading Room, Humanities and Social Sciences Division. It is the first in a series that will feature the types of literary resources to be found throughout the Library. Many literary researchers visiting the Library …
The following is a guest post from Camila Escobar-Vredevoogd, the 2012 Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center. Over the past two weeks, all of the Junior Fellows at the Library have been wrapping up their projects for one final display to celebrate their time here. The display has come and …
The relationship between poetry and the Olympics reaches back at least 2,500 years, when the Greek poet Pindar (ca. 518-438 B.C.) composed victory odes, or epinicia, for victorious athletes competing in the Olympics and the three other major Panhellenic games—those at Pythia, Nemea, and the isthmus of Corinth. Of these, the Olympic games were the …
The following is a guest post by Caitlin Rizzo, staffer for the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress. This year the United States Postal Service unveiled a new series of “forever” stamps commemorating ten of the most enduring American poets. The list includes quite a few Poets Laureate and Consultants in Poetry―from …
The Library of Congress’s acquisition of Carl Sagan’s papers in late June presents researchers with new opportunities to learn about the noted astronomer and scientific communicator’s life and work. While the majority of research will presumably focus on his scientific activities, the Library’s initial release of several digitized items from the collection demonstrates that many …
As part of a multiyear “Celebration of the Book,” on Monday the Library of Congress launched the exhibit “Books That Shaped America.” The centerpiece of the exhibit is an initial display of 88 books deemed by the Library to be of cultural significance to America. You can view the list of books here. The list …
Last Wednesday, the Poetry and Literature Center hosted its final program of the 2011/2012 year: a reading with Hungarian novelist László Krasznahorkai. Like many of our readings this past year, this one was co-sponsored by another division in the Library and featured a moderated discussion run by an LC expert—in this case, our co-sponsor was …