This month, Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, in partnership with the Chicago Public Library (CPL), the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), and the Poetry Foundation, announced they are accepting nominations for Chicago’s first Poet Laureate. The program was launched as part of the city’s advocacy of creative and civic communities. The Chicago poet […]
Poet and two-time New York Times bestselling author Kate Baer‘s first book of poetry, What Kind of Woman, published in 2020, was met with critical acclaim and quickly catapulted her writing career. Since then, Baer — an Eastern Mennonite University graduate, whose work can also be found in The New Yorker and The New York […]
This September, the Poetry Foundation and Poetry magazine, announced the winners of the 2020 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships: Isabella Borgeson, Luther Hughes, Cyrée Jarelle Johnson, Darius Simpson, and Khaty Xiong. Not only will these young poets receive support and encouragement through further study and writing in the poetry form of the […]
Could a poem a day keep the doctor away? Psychology Today asked the question back in 2011, exploring poetry as an age-old remedy for mental illness. The author cited a study from the National Association for Poetry Therapy, a group that spotlights a second-century Greek physician who promoted personal growth in his clients through the written […]
Like a favorite song you haven’t heard in years, poetry has a way of sticking around in your mind, popping up when you least expect it. Poetry finds its way into so many places in a child’s life, from books and nursery rhymes to song lyrics and fairy tales, so it’s easy to see why […]
What better way to celebrate Poetry at Work Day (Jan. 12) than with reading poems about – you guessed it – work! We asked our poetically immersed friends at The Poetry Foundation to recommend some poetry of this ilk. What follows are 26 poems about the ups, downs and in-betweens we experience in pursuit of a living. Honoring […]
Robert Polito is the outgoing president of the illustrious Poetry Foundation, based here in Chicago. After two fruitful years, Polito just returned to the New School in New York City, where he has been the director of creative writing since 1992. Luckily, I was able to catch him for a Q&A about the Foundation, poetry and more just […]
Poet Barry Siegel was recently featured on WGN for the program he founded, Heartwords Workshop, which provides writing workshops to individuals with developmental disabilities.
Barry Siegel is somewhat famous around the North Shore for his romantic poetry, including the poem he wrote for his wife and read at their surprise wedding. But few people know that Siegel also uses his writing to give back. Siegel, an Evanston resident in his 60s who has published two books of poetry, recently […]
