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Celebrate National Poetry Month!

Celebrate National Poetry Month!

The Washington State Library celebrates National Poetry Month by bringing poetry to the public throughout April. We hope these resources will help you celebrate the joys and solace that can be found in the beauty of the written word. For Claudia Castro Luna (@wapoetlaureate), Washington State Poet Laureate, providing a voice to a sheltering public is a means for us to offer each other “fortitude, hope, resilience, humor.” Check out her Poems to Lean On series. Poetry Northwest (@poetrynw) is…

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Institutional Libraries use poetry to promote community

Institutional Libraries use poetry to promote community

A couple weeks ago, a patron of our library at Clallam Bay Corrections Center told me, “I’m not even a reader, but this is a place where I always feel safe.” Sentiments like these, along with brilliant inquires, ideas, and authenticity, inspire me to create innovative programs and challenge me to provide the best services possible in an institutional library setting. On April 25, Washington State Library’s Institutional Library Services held its first ever Poetry Day, in which institutional libraries…

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A poetry book just for Valentine’s Day

A poetry book just for Valentine’s Day

(Photo courtesy of Washington State Library) For those of you who love poetry and rank Valentine’s Day among your favorite holidays, the State Library has just the thing for you. It’s a hand-pressed book of romantic and Valentine’s Day-themed poems from Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Ted Kooser. The book is called “Out of That Moment: Twenty-one Years of Valentines.” It was published by Brooding Heron Press, operated by former State Poet Laureate Samuel Green and his wife, Sally. The book is…

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April Library Jewel #1: rare poster honoring late artist

April Library Jewel #1: rare poster honoring late artist

It’s time to show off three more State Library Jewels. With April being National Poetry Month, the first one is timely: a rare poster of a poem about Washington artist Christopher Stern, who died of cancer in 2006. The poster, a collaboration by Maralyn Crosetto of Day Moon Press and Mare Blocker, was printed at Day Moon Press in 2007 as a fund-raiser to help pay the medical bills for the late Chris Stern, who died in November 2006, at…

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February Library Jewel #1: romantic poems book

February Library Jewel #1: romantic poems book

(Photo courtesy of Washington State Library) Valentine’s Day has passed, but for those of you who like romance all year long, the first State Library Jewel for February is right up your alley. It’s a hand-pressed book of romantic and Valentine’s Day-themed poems from Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Ted Kooser. The book is called “Out of That Moment: Twenty-one Years of Valentines.” It was published by Brooding Heron Press, operated by former State Poet Laureate Samuel Green and his wife, Sally….

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Poetry, anyone?

Poetry, anyone?

The Pacific Northwest has long been renowned for its lyric lineage, from Ella Higginson through celebrity poets, such as Theodore Roethke and Carolyn Kizer, to our current Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken.

Poetry event on tap Thursday night at Capitol

Poetry event on tap Thursday night at Capitol

If you like poetry or just need an excuse to visit the State Capitol, this Thursday is your night. The State Library is sponsoring a Poet Meets Poet event featuring Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken and National Student Poet Miles Hewitt. The free gathering begins at 6 p.m. in the Legislative Building’s Columbia Room, located on the first floor. Doors open at 5:30. Flenniken became State Poet Laureate early this year. Hewitt, a senior at the Vancouver School of…

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State Library to host Poet Meets Poet event Nov. 29

State Library to host Poet Meets Poet event Nov. 29

Kathleen Flenniken Join Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken, and West Region National Student Poet Miles Hewitt, as they share their talents in an evening of conversation and poetry sponsored by the Washington State Library. The free 90-minute gathering, sponsored by the Washington State Library, starts at 6 p.m. in the Legislative Building’s Columbia Room (located on the first floor), on the Capitol Campus. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Gov. Gregoire last February approved Flenniken’s appointment as State Poet…

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“A most peculiar book”

“A most peculiar book”

The Clear Cut Future is a wild mélange of essays, criticism, short stories, excerpts from novels, poetry, photo essays, and the like by a variety of authors, whose only commonality appears to be that they are mostly from the Pacific Northwest, although that is never stated, and may not even be true.