Poet Laureate

Does Tucson Need Three Poet Laureates to Bring It Back from the Brink of Censorship?

Jeff Biggers | Posted 04.02.2012

Read More: Tea Party, Andrea Hernandez Holm, Books, Elena Díaz Björkquist, Tucson, San Antonio, Arizona, Censorship, Poet Laureate, Mari Herreras, Poetry, California, Mexican American Studies, Latino Studies, Chicano Studies, Books News

Facing an unprecedented wave of censorship, Tucson has unabashedly staked out its claim as ground zero in the defense of poetry and literary arts.

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San Antonio Names Tafolla First Poet Laureate, as Tucson Banishes Her Classics From Classrooms

Jeff Biggers | Posted 05.27.2012

Read More: Book Banning, Tucson, Wings Press, Texas, Arizona, Carmen Tafolla, Latino Literature, Censorship, Poet Laureate, Poetry, Chicano, Books News

One of the most innovative poets and authors over the last 25 years, Tafolla's genre-bending bilingual verse from San Antonio's West Side barrio has given voice to several cherished volumes of poetry and stories.

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What Happens When You Cut Arts Funding?

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Poets, Arts Funding, Poet Laureate, Local Arts Funding, Poetry, Poet Laureates, Books News

Most of us who create art dwell in the gap between what we know and don't know. All I need to know, I've learned by being a poet: keep my broken heart open, don't harden over what's too hard to feel, create what's ready, and persevere. It's my practice.

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Paul Simon, Poet Laureate: Songwriter Makes the Case

Jesse Kornbluth | Posted 12.26.2011

Read More: Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel, Poet Laureate, Entertainment News

The proof is right in the open, for all who have ears -- Paul Simon, Poet Laureate.

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What Work Is: What Labor Day, the Poet Laureate, Adderall, Mountain Biking, and the Philosopher Horace have in Common

Michael Henry | Posted 11.09.2011

Read More: Moby Dick, Labor Day, Stephen Elliott, Writing, Mountain Biking, Philip Levine, Poet Laureate, Horace, Poetry, Denver News

Perhaps I needed to have already experienced Labor Day 2011 in order to begin contemplating the meaning of Labor Day, and the idea of labor, and how it relates to the craft of writing, and the work of our daily lives.

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Philip Levine and Other Mediocrities: What it Takes to Ascend to the Poet Laureateship

Anis Shivani | Posted 10.13.2011

Read More: Literary Awards, Philip Levine, U.S. Poet Laureate, Literary Prizes, Poet Laureate, u.s. Poet Laureate 2011, 2011 Poet Laureate, Current Poet Laureate, New Poet Laureate, Poetry, Books News

The truth about American poetry is that it is in very bad shape. The professional poetry establishment has taken care to mark serious criticism comin...

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What Is The Point Of A Poet Laureate?

Andrew Losowsky | Posted 10.11.2011

Read More: Library of Congress, Poets Laureate, Why Do We Need a Poet Laureate, WS Merkin, Poems, Poet Laureate, Poetry, Billy Collins, 9/11, Philip Levine, Books News

The U.S. Poet Laureate is "the nation's official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Americans" - that is, according to the Library of Congress, which each year selects the holder of the position. What does that description mean?

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Philip Levine's Factory Stiffs, Society's Throw-Aways

Jan Herman | Posted 10.11.2011

Read More: Philip Levine, Poet Laureate, Poetry, Philip Levine Poet Laureate, Books News

In 1991 a Los Angeles Times editor assigned me to write an appreciation of "What Work Is" by Philip Levine. Now Levine has been appointed poet laureate by the Library of Congress, and suddenly everybody is writing about him.

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How Much Does Your Amazon Ranking Increase When You Become Poet Laureate?

AP | By HILLEL ITALIE | Posted 10.11.2011

Read More: Pulitzer Prize Winner, U.S. Poet Laureate, Philip Levine, The Simple Truth, Poet Laureate, 2011 u.s. Poet Laureate, News of the World, Literary Prizes, Books News

NEW YORK -- The country wants to know more about its next poet-in-chief. Sales have jumped for books by Philip Levine, a Pulitzer Prize winner who on...

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Narrative Magazine Friday Feature: U.S. Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin Shares A Poem

Posted 07.27.2011

Read More: W.S. Merwin, Letter to Ruth Stone, Narrative Magazine, Friday Feature, The Shadow of Sirius, Poet Laureate, Poetry, Narrative Magazine Friday Feature, Pulitzer Prize, Books News

Narrative Magazine: W. S. Merwin, Poet Laureate of the United States, has been writing his widely read poems for five decades. Throughout his poetry r...

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WATCH: A Rare Look At Soviet-Era Political Cartoons

George Heymont | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Joseph Brodsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Gary Larson, George W. Bush, Stalin Thought of You, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Leon Trotsky, Dennis the Menace, A Room and a Half, Kevin McNeer, Pravda, Blondie, The Little King, Calvin and Hobbes, Adolf Hitler, Jean-Paul Sartre, Soyuz Multifilm Animation Studio, Ernest Hemingway, Pogo, Vladimir Brylyahkov, Berkeley Breathed, Pearls Before Swine, Get Fuzzy, Nobel Prize for Literature, Boris Efimov, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Bill Watterson, Russian State Film Archives, Andrey Khrzhanovskiy, Bloom County, Brezhnev, Poet Laureate, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Cartoon Art, Mikhail Koltsov, Ferd?Nand, Film, Arts News

Using rarely seen footage from the Russian State Film Archives, documentarian Kevin McNeer has produced a fascinating documentary about the late Soviet political cartoonist and propaganda artist Boris Efimov.

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Why Are US Literary Laureates Only Poets? Why Not a Dramatist?

Lauren Gunderson | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Writing, Nobel Prize Literature, Theatre, Broadway, Theater, Musicals, Playwrighting, Poet Laureate, Poetry, Playwright, Arts News

The country that invented musical theater should have a representational dramatist in its highest official center of literature.

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William S. Merwin Is Newest Poet Laureate: Merwin Poems, Prose, Audio And More From The Poetry Foundation

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: New Poet Laureate, William S. Merwin, Poet Laureate, Books, Poetry, Merwin, Books News

More on Merwin The Poetry Foundation As we reported below, William Stanley Merwin has been named the 17th US poet laureate, succeeding Kay Ryan at th...

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William S. Merwin Named Newest Poet Laureate

AP | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: William S. Merwin Poet Laureate, William S. Merwin, U.S. Poet Laureate, Poet Laureate, Books, Poetry, Merwin, Books News

WASHINGTON — A writer who stopped using punctuation in the 1960s and spent much of the last 30 years secluded in Hawaii will become the nation's...

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'Treasure Island' Sequel By Former Poet Laureate

BBC News | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Treasure Island, Treasure Island Sequel, Sir Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, Books, British Poet Laureate, Books News

Treasure Island ends with several pirates still marooned on the island, Long John Silver survives, and most of the loot remains in situ. In Return to...

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David Beckham Gets An Ode From British Poet Laureate

AP | JILL LAWLESS | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Victoria Beckham, David Beckham Poem, Soccer, Books, Poems, David Beckham, Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate, Poetry, British Poet Laureate, Books News

LONDON — O Beckham, where art thou? David Beckham has become an unlikely muse to Britain's poet laureate, who has written a verse about the soc...

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Lucille Clifton Dies: Poet Laureate of Maryland Dead At 73

The Baltimore Sun | Nick Madigan | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, Poet Laureate, Lucille Clifton, Literary Prizes, Maryland, Books News

Former state poet laureate Lucille Clifton, a National Book Award winner whose work was lauded for its "moral quality," died Saturday at Johns Hopkins...

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Poetry's Decline?

Carol Hoenig | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Robert Frost, Children, Poetry, Linda Winston, Mom, Joyce Kilmer, Mary Ann Hoberman, Tree That Time Built, Poet Laureate, Felice Holman, Children's Poetry, Reciting Poetry, Books, Children's Books, Books News

I'm sure I'd leafed through The Children's First Book of Poetry when I was a child, but it was more the memory of my mother reciting any number of poems that I cherished.

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Britain's Groundbreaking Poet Laureate

John Lundberg | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Carol Ann Duffy, UK, The Poetic Life, Poet Laureate, Poetry, England, Healthy Living News

When the British newspaper The Guardian asked Carol Ann Duffy how poetry is changing, she emphasized its growing diversity: "There are so many more vo...

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Ahmadinejad Wins Stanley Cup

Andy Borowitz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Borowitz Report, Pittsburgh Penguins, Stanley Cup, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran, Andy Borowitz, Poet Laureate, Stanley Cup 2009, Ahmadinejad Stanley Cup, Comedy News

According to the ministry, which Mr. Ahmadinejad runs, the Iranian hard-liner defeated the Penguins by a score of 6-0, scoring two hat tricks in the victory.

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Carol Ann Duffy: UK's First Openly Gay Poet Laureate

AP | JILL LAWLESS | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: UK Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, Carol Ann Duffy, Carol Ann Duffy Poet Laureate, Poet Laureate, Carol Anne Duffy, Books, World News

LONDON — The centuries-old post of British poet laureate, bard to kings and queens, has been held by William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson an...

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A Poet in Hollywood

Carol Muske-Dukes | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: State Poet Laureate, California, Poet Laureate, California Poet Laureate, Healthy Living News

A couple of months ago, I received a call from the Governor's office, informing me that I had been appointed California Poet Laureate. Poetry, as a famous poet once said, should not "mean" but "be."

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Britain's Poet Laureate Has Writer's Block

John Lundberg | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: The Poetic Life, Englad Poet Laureate, Writer's Block, Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, Healthy Living News

British poet laureate Andrew Motion is planning to resign next year. And while he has long professed his desire to leave the lifetime appointment ear...

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Meet Your Next Poet Laureate

John Lundberg | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Poet Laureate, Kay Ryan, The Inner Life, Healthy Living News

Kay Ryan the poet may have just been thrown into the spotlight, but her work has been there for a while. Her poems have filled six books, won her mor...

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