Poetry at ALA 2010

If you’re planning to attend the annual conference of the American Library Association next month in Washington D.C., please allow me to plug my poetry session scheduled for the conference. It’s entitled, “Celebrating The Spoken Word with Poetry for Young People” and is scheduled for Sunday, June 27 at 10:30am-12:00pm.

We’ll be featuring Mary Ann Hoberman, Children’s Poet Laureate, talking about her life, work, and the creative process. Also on the panel will be Stephen Young, Program Director of the Poetry Foundation's Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest for high school students.

It looks like this year’s Poetry Out Loud contest winner, Amber Rose Johnson, will be appearing too, and I am tickled pink to have a young person—and poetry performer—on the docket, too. I don’t know the location for our session yet, but if you’re in town, I hope you can come. [Check out the complete conference program here.]

And of course, I’ll be reporting on the annual ALSC Poetry Blast scheduled for June 28 at 5:30 in Washington Convention Center, Room 144 A-C. Hosts Marilyn Singer and Barbara Genco are introducing another amazing line up of poets for the Blast, including Arnold Adoff, Calef Brown, Lois Ehlert, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Debbie Levy, George Ella Lyon, Tony Medina, Heidi Mordhorst, Marilyn Nelson, Marilyn Singer, and Carole Boston Weatherford. Won’t that be a wonderful evening? It’s one of the highlights of the conference, in my opinion, and I never miss this “concert” of poets reading from their works. Join their “Fans of the ALSC Poetry Blast” page on Facebook, too.

Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2010. All rights reserved.

Image credit: ALA, poetryoutloud, maryannhoberman.com