April is National Poetry Month. With the release of new books by a number of prominent Maine poets, we'll discuss the role of poetry in today’s culture and society—and about efforts to make poetry relevant to people in today’s world.
Guests
Richard Blanco, Presidential inaugural poet, memoirist, public speaker, educator, and advocate; his new collection of poems, "How to Love a Country," his first in over seven years, addresses the complexities and contradictions of our nationhood and the unresolved sociopolitical matters that affect us all.
Betsy Sholl, Maine Poet Laureate from 2006 to 2011, is the author of nine poetry collections including "Otherwise Unseeable" (winner of the 2015 Maine Literary Award for Poetry), "Rough Cradle," "Late Psalm," "Don’t Explain," and "The Red Line." Her latest collection is the just released "House of Sparrows: New and Selected Poems."
Gibson Fay-Leblanc, writer, teacher and former Portland poet laureate; his first book of poems, "Death of a Ventriloquist," won the Vassar Miller Prize. He is with Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance.
Richard Foerster (by phone), his latest collection is "Boy on a Doorstep: New and Selected Poems."
Julia Bouwsma (by phone), her book, "Midden," is one of Book Riot’s 50 must-read poetry collections of 2019.
Steve Luttrell (by phone), founding editor of the Café Review; former Portland Poet laureate
Resources