TLA Virtual Poetry Round Up

As you probably know, the annual conference of the Texas Library Association was cancelled--like so many other events-- due to the coronavirus outbreak we are all facing. It's always a great conference, so it's disappointing for all of us, but I'm especially disappointed to miss my 16th annual Poetry Round Up session which is always a hit. So, I hope to share a few videoclips that the poets who were set to appear have kindly made. Enjoy! And be sure to look for their new books!

First up: Irene Latham! Irene is the author of several books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry: including Dear Wandering Wildebeest, When the Sun Shines on Antarctica, Fresh Delicious, and Can I Touch Your Hair? (with Charles Waters). She won the Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award and is a regular speaker at schools, libraries, and festivals. She lives on a lake in Alabama with her family and is learning to play cello (spoiler alert!). Here, she talks about her newest book, Nine (published by Charlesbridge), and treats us to a concert!

Now hold to your hats, while Irene serenades us with her cello! 

Thanks so much for taking the time to create these videos for us, Irene! WONDERFUL! I can't wait to get my hands on Nine, too. 

[I debated about creating new posts for each poet, but lots of people are linking to this posting to share with kids (HOORAY!), so I'm going to keep adding poets right here!]

Next up: Leslie Bulion!
Poet Leslie Bulion is the author of many wonderful science-themed books of poetry for young people including Superlative Birds, Random Body Parts: Gross Anatomy Riddles in Verse, Leaf Litter Critters, At the Sea Floor Cafe: Odd Ocean Critter Poems, Hey, There, Stink Bug!, as well as middle grade fictional novels for young readers. Bulion studied science in college, oceanography in graduate school and worked with children and families. She loves photographing nature, scuba diving, and kayaking. Here, she shares a few poems, background stories, and activities from her new book, Amphibian Acrobats. Enjoy!

Next up: K.A. Holt!

Poet Kari Anne (K.A.) Holt is the author of several middle grade novels, especially novels in verse such as Rhyme Schemer, House Arrest, Knockout and the #ownvoices Redwood and Ponytail, as well as the picture book, I Wonder, illustrated by Kenard Pak. She lives in Austin, Texas, and is a co-founder of Typewriter Rodeo, a troop of poets who compose poems on request on-the-spot. Here she talks about two of her novels in verse. First: House Arrest.

Next, Kari talks about her forthcoming book, BenBee and the Teacher Griefer (I can't wait to read it!):

Next up: Zetta Elliott

Zetta Elliott is a poet, author, and an educator who was born in Canada and currently lives and writes in Pennsylvania. She earned a PhD from NYU and is the award-winning author of multiple works for adults and young readers including fiction, fantasy, plays, essays, a novella, picture books, YA novels, and middle grade fantasy. Her latest book is a poetry collection for young adults, Say Her Name. In the video linked here (click here), she reads a few selections from this new book, including a very helpful poem entitled, “Self Care.” Enjoy!

Elliott has also created a poetry workbook for teens, Find Your Voice, and I can send you a pdf of that (with Zetta’s permission) if you leave your name and email address in the comments. 

Finally: Vikram Madan!

As poet and artist Vikram Madan admits on his website, he grew up in India where he really wanted to be a cartoonist, but ended up an engineer. He now lives in Seattle and worked for years in the tech industry and then made the switch to art and writing, creating editorial cartoons, drawing and painting and exhibiting his art, and writing poetry for young people. His poetry is full of humor and wordplay, including The Bubble Collector, Lord of the Bubbles, and his new book, A Hatful of Dragons. He shares a poem from that new book here:

And here Vikram leads us in a 30-second flip through his new book:

And just for fun, Vikram has created a music video for a poem from his first book, The Bubble Collector:

Thank you, poets, for being part of my virtual Poetry Round Up! It's so kind of Irene Latham, Leslie Bulion, Kari Holt, Zetta Elliott, and Vikram Madan to take time to make videos for us to enjoy. I hope I can bring them all to TLA in the future for an in-person rock concert of poetry! Meanwhile, take care of yourselves, everyone-- and share poetry-- so therapeutic just now (and always!).