5Q Poet Interview Series for April

I’m lucky enough to teach a graduate course in poetry for children and young adults again this spring. It’s such fun to dig deep into all kinds of poetry published for young people and usually quite an eye-opening experience for my students. I also try to involve them in sharing their new knowledge with the world at large whenever possible. This year, I’ve arranged for them to interview poets via email with a focus on poets who have new books out in 2012. We’re using the "Five Question Interview" format based on the model that Roger Sutton, Editor of Horn Book Magazine, initiated in his many interviews with children's book authors and illustrators (many of them LIVE at ALA conferences). I wrote him for permission to use this format and he kindly agreed. I’m calling it our 5Q Poet Interview Series.



Since there are only 5 questions, I told my students that they need to be good ones-- not just "where do you get your ideas," etc. And they should focus specifically on the new poetry book out this year and not just on writing in general. However, in several cases the 2012 books are/were not available yet, so my resourceful students did all they could to find out as much as they could. What follows is the list of poets, 2012 poetry books, and student interviewers that we will be featuring on my blog every day throughout April, in honor of National Poetry Month.

A big Texas thank you to each of the poets for participating in this project with us and to my students for their hard work and enthusiasm (they were so excited to have this “intimate” contact with famous poets!). Thanks to the publisher’s reps who helped smooth the way and even shared ARCs and books when possible. What a great collaborative effort. Here we go in alphabetical order (hey, we’re in Library School—we alphabetize!):

April 1: Kate Coombs. Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems. Interviewed by Mary Virginia Meeks.
April 2: Jill Corcoran, Ed. Dare to Dream… Change the World. Interviewed by Lindsey Chesser.
April 3: Margarita Engle. The Wild Book. Interviewed by Rebekah Espinosa.
April 4: Sid Farrar. The Year Comes Round: Haiku Through the Seasons. Interviewed by Katelyn Verrill.
April 5: Douglas Florian. Poem Runs; Baseball Poems and Paintings. Interviewed by Dori Pruzan.
April 6: Douglas Florian, the Sequel. Unbeelievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings. Also interviewed by Kristin Edstrom.
April 7: Helen Frost. Step Gently Out. Interviewed by Emily Felker.
April 8: David Harrison. Cowboys. Interviewed by Shandra Harrel.
April 9: Artist Dan Burr, illustrator for Cowboys. Interviewed by Jenny Davidson.
April 10: Georgia Heard. Ed. The Arrow Finds its Mark: A Book of Found Poems. Interviewed by Kori Parkinson.
April 11: Stephanie Hemphill. Sisters of Glass. Interviewed by Yours Truly.
April 12: Lee Bennett Hopkins, Ed. Nasty Bugs. Interviewed by Melissa Scholl.
April 13: Carol-Ann Hoyte and Heidi Bee Roemer. Eds. And the Crowd Goes Wild!: A Global Gathering of Sports Poems. Interviewed by Abby Hancock.
April 14: Dana Jensen. A Meal of the Stars; Poems Up and Down. Interviewed by Yours Truly.
April 15: J. Patrick Lewis. Edgar Allan Poe’s Pie: Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems. Interviewed by Dana Terrell.
April 16: J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen. Last Laughs: Animal Epitaphs. Interviewed by Tammy Reed.
April 17: J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen, Together Again. Take Two! A Celebration of Twins. Interviewed by Jerusha Hunt.
April 18: J. Patrick Lewis, Redux. If You Were a Chocolate Mustache. Interviewed by Kara Johnson.
April 19: Timothy McLaughlin. Ed. Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky; Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School. Interviewed by Stephanie Cacciavillani.
April 20: Lesléa Newman. October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard. Interviewed by Brittany Snyder.
April 21: Eric Ode. When You're a Pirate Dog and Other Pirate Poems. Interviewed by Melissa Quisenberry.
April 22: Caroline Starr Rose. May B. Interviewed by Brooke Adams.
April 23: Michael J. Rosen. Running with Trains, A Novel in Poetry and Two Voices. Interviewed by Chrissy Adkins.
April 24: Marilyn Singer. Every Day's a Dog's Day: A Year in Poems. Interviewed by Liseth Martin.
April 25: Marilyn Singer, Part II. The Superheroes Employment Agency. Interviewed by Carrie Martin.
April 26: Amy E. Sklansky. Out of This World: Poems and Facts About Space. Interviewed by Garra Ballinger.
April 27: Janet Wong. Declaration of Interdependence: Poems for an Election Year. Interviewed by Jessica Pollock.
April 28: Jane Yolen. Bug Off! Creepy Crawly Poems. Interviewed by Lisa Cockrell.
PLUS: Reviews of these new 2012 poetry books:
April 29: Two new books perfect for sharing poetry aloud: Forget-Me-Nots: Poems to Learn by Heart edited by Mary Ann Hoberman AND Poems to Learn by Heart edited by Caroline Kennedy
April 30: Two bilingual poetry books to celebrate El día de los niños/El día de los libros/ Children's day/Book Day: Con el sol en los ojos/ With the Sun in My Eyes by Jorge Luján AND Guacamole; Un poema para cocinar/ A Cooking Poem by Jorge Argueta.

Lots of poetry wonderfulness to look forward to every day in April. Stay tuned!


Image credits: penguinpr.co.uk;blogidrive.com



Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2012. All rights reserved.