Poems for Summer, Whitman Award Judge Announced, New Recording of Carolyn Forché and Kevin Young, and More

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend July 15, 2015 The Season of Travel and Leisure   With the slow months of summer upon us, we’ve put together a selection of poems to have by your side during your travels or those quiet moments of reflection.   “Vacation” by Rita Dove “In Summer” by Paul Laurence Dunbar “Spain” by Major Jackson “Long Island Sound” by Emma Lazarus “Travel” by Edna St. Vincent Millay “Back Yard” by Carl Sandburg “The Idea of Order at Key West” by Wallace Stevens

Carolyn Forché to Judge the Whitman Award   We’re thrilled to announce that Carolyn Forché will judge the 2016 Walt Whitman Award, the nation’s most valuable first-book prize for poetry. The winner of the Whitman Award receives $5,000 and book publication by Graywolf Press in 2017. Submissions will be accepted online only from September 1 through November 1. Juke Joint of the Soul   Listen to Carolyn Forché and Kevin Young read their poems, including new and unpublished work, at a reading we sponsored in April at the 2015 AWP Conference held in Minneapolis. For the Taking   Watch Academy of American Poets Chancellor Linda Gregerson read her poem “For the Taking,” with translator Katerina Stoykova-Klemer reading the Bulgarian translation, as part of the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation's first Poetry Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, on June 20.   Poets Forum: October 8-10   Join us at this year’s Poets Forum for a reading by recent New York State Poet Laureate Marie Howe and “Ancestors: a Mapping of Indigenous Poetry and Poets,” a lecture on contemporary poetry by Joy Harjo. In this, our annual Blaney Lecture, Harjo will give an overview of the current field of young indigenous poets and their ancestral strands of relatives. Read Linda Gregg's essay "The Art of Finding." Watch Tracy K. Smith read two poems from last year's Poets Forum. Watch Brian Blanchfield read from his second book, A Several World. Portables from the Poets Shop   If you’re planning to take some poetry to the beach this season, the Poets Shop has a few handy gadgets on offer, from Poe totes to our glass water bottle to folding readers. Enjoy 15% off through July 16 with coupon ONTH3MOVE15 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