A Blast with Poetry at ALSC

I'm back from the annual convention of the American Library Association in New Orleans and eager to share the magical time we had at the EIGHTH annual Poetry Blast sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) and hosted by poet Marilyn Singer and librarian Barbara Genco on Monday, June 27, 5:30-7:30pm (it's always Monday night of the ALA convention, fyi). I've attended every one of these 8 celebrations and each one is an extraordinary amalgamation of poetic voices, styles, forms, and fun. Nine poets read from their work including (pictured here from left to right) Kristine O'Connell George, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, Nikki Grimes, Marilyn Singer, Stephanie Calmenson, Mike Artell, Janet Wong, Alan Katz, Janet Wong, and (seated) Joyce Sidman, and (librarian and host) Barbara Genco.

Marilyn keeps an excellent Facebook fan page for the ALSC-- Fans of the ALSC Poetry Blast-- so be sure to check that out, too. She has kindly given me permission to borrow her well-written poet intros from there, so I can repost them along with the short film clips I made of each poet reading Monday night at the Blast-- to follow in individual postings. So, here goes...

Make a note now to attend the 9th Poetry Blast in Anaheim, California next June 25, 2012!

Thanks also to the publishers who brought the poets to New Orleans: Abrams, Charlesbridge, Clarion, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Dial/Penguin, HarperCollins, Holt/Macmillan, Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Zondervan.


Image credit: 

Sylvia Vardell


Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2011. All rights reserved.