Irene Latham + Awards + Elephants

Did you know that August 12 is World Elephant Day? Yep, and of course we have a poem for this occasion in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations written by the lovely Irene Latham. 

PLUS:

It's also the perfect moment to announce that Irene Latham was chosen to be the 2016 recipient of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award.  Congratulations, Irene! This award is given every three years and goes to a poet with two books (or fewer) of poetry published thus far. The committee recognized her book, Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems From the Water Hole (Millbrook Press/Lerner), in particular. She also published When the Sun Shines on Antarctica (Millbrook Press/Lerner) prior to receiving this award and just this year published a new poetry collection, Fresh Delicious (Boyds Mills Press). 

Check out Irene's interesting website and follow her thoughtful blog, Live Your Poem, where she posts regularly. Irene was part of my fabulous Poetry Round Up panel at the TLA conference this spring and it was so lovely to meet her in person-- finally!  As a fellow southerner, I really appreciate her storyteller's way with words and her genteel spirit. Check out her work!