Announcing the 2016 Walt Whitman Award Winner, Poems for Spring, a Shakespearean Celebration & More

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend March 23, 2016 A Season for Poetry   The start of spring brings with it new tidings of National Poetry Month and all the ways readers and writers will join in on this national celebration. Prepare for a new season of poetry with this selection of spring poems.   “spring love noise and all [excerpt]” by David Antin “Alcove” by John Ashbery “Spring is like a perhaps hand” by E. E. Cummings “Sea Poppies” by H. D. “Dear March – Come in – (1320)” by Emily Dickinson “Each year” by Dora Malech “After the Winter” by Claude McKay “Spring (Again)” by Michael Ryan “Crisscross” by Arthur Sze “The Thaw” by Henry David Thoreau “first green flare” by Sidney Wade

Announcing the New Walt Whitman Award Winner: Mai Der Vang   We’re happy to announce that Mai Der Vang is the recipient of the 2016 Walt Whitman Award for her manuscript, Afterland. In her citation, judge Carolyn Forché writes, “Afterland has haunted me. I keep returning to read these poems aloud, hearing in them a language at once atavistic, contemporary, and profoundly spiritual.” Afterland will be published by Graywolf Press in April 2017 and distributed to members of the Academy of American Poets. Vang will also receive $5,000 and a six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy.  Celebrating Shakespeare 400   In his Sonnet 55, Shakespeare writes, “Not marble nor the gilded monuments / Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme”—fitting lines for the poet, whose words live on, even four centuries after his death. This year, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, refresh your reading with our curated selection of poems, books, and resources by and about the classic bard on Poets.org. Read more poems about springtime. Check out our weekly Jobs for Poets roundup. Share your National Poetry Month event in our poetry calendar. National Poetry Month Spotlights   From now through National Poetry Month, we’ll be spotlighting celebrations from around the country. This week’s feature is the Stories of Arrival: Refugee and Immigrant Youth Voices Poetry Project. The initiative features poems by students of Foster High School in the Seattle area, many of whom were forced out of their countries and lived in refugee camps before arriving in the United States. Students worked with the Jack Straw Cultural Center to tell their stories through poetry and recorded their poems for radio.  O, Miami Spotlight: Poetry Pirates   As we gear up for this National Poetry Month, take a look at the O, Miami Poetry Festival's project “Poetry Pirates.” In April 2015, artists Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares organized thirty-five fellow artists to dress as pirates and mermaids and recite Walt Whitman’s poem “After the Sea Ship” to passing boats on the Miami River. Thank You to Our National Poetry Month Sponsors   We’d like to extend our gratitude to all of the publishers and organizations that helped make National Poetry Month 2016 possible. We will continue thanking our sponsors throughout the month of April.     826 National; Ahsahta Press; Alaska Quarterly Review; Alfred A. Knopf Inc.; American Booksellers Association; American Library Association; American Poetry Review; American Writers Museum; BkMk Press; Black Lawrence Press; BOA Editions Ltd.; Bright Hill Press; CavanKerry Press Ltd.; Center for Literary Publishing; City Lights Books; Coffee House Press; Columbia University; Copper Canyon Press; Ecco; Farrar, Straus & Giroux; Graywolf Press; Hamline University; and Hanging Loose Press. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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