Yesterday was a very important day for the Poetry and Literature Center—the Library announced the selection of a new Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, Natasha Trethewey. Our previous laureate, Philip Levine, served in the position magnanimously and with a great sense of openness. The power of his term will continue to resonate inside and …
The following is a guest post from Camila Escobar-Vredevoogd, the 2012 Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center. I arrived here fresh from the University of Virginia, where I earned my undergraduate degree in English and Psychology. My love for poetry brought me to the Library of Congress this summer, and …
The following is a guest post by Donna Urschel, public affairs specialist in the Library of Congress Office of Communications. This originally appeared in abridged form as an article in the Library of Congress Gazette, Volume 23, No. 19. In the evenings of 1942 on the outskirts of Detroit, a 14-year-old Philip Levine frequently wandered …
NOTE: Follow this link on Friday, May 4, at 3 p. m. Eastern Time, to watch the live video conference with Philip Levine. Philip Levine concluded the Library’s literary season last night with a lecture to a packed audience in the Coolidge Auditorium. Levine’s talk, “My Forgotten Poets,” was a self-effacing tribute to the poets …
Today’s theatrical release of James McTeigue’s The Raven, inspired by the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe, is noteworthy for the ease with which it casts one of America’s best-known poets and writers as an action star. While other major poets during the past decade have been featured in serious biopics, including Allen Ginsberg …
Less than two weeks from today, the Coolidge Auditorium will fill with people eager to see our 18th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, Philip Levine, close out the Library’s spring season. The Poet Laureate will follow up his hugely successful opening reading last October with a talk entitled “Forgotten Poets of My Youth.” I …
Sunday, April 15, marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. For those of us who recall the tremendous outpouring of poetry written in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, it is no surprise that in the days and weeks following the wreck, thousands of American and British citizens turned their …
The following is a guest post by Bryan Koen, graduate research assistant for the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress. Reed Whittemore, twice Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress, died on Friday in Kensington, MD. He was 92. You can read his obituary here and here, but we would like …
The following interview with Philip Levine was conducted by Donna Urschel, a Public Affairs Specialist in the Library’s Office of Communications, and originally published in the March 30th issue of the Library’s staff newsletter, the Gazette. In the interview, Levine shared his thoughts on his tenure as Poet Laureate, the state of poetry today, the …
Here are two quick questions to consider on Major League Baseball’s Opening Day: 1) What is your favorite baseball poem? 2) What is your favorite baseball poem—other than “Casey at the Bat”? Most people can easily answer the first question, but are stymied by the second question because, in all likelihood, they’re unable to name …