Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

In their first post-election 60 Minutes interview, the President- and First Lady-elect said they’d like to open the White House up to the people. They mentioned poetry and jazz.
I knew that Michelle Obama had seen spoken word and poetry slam poets while in Chicago, so I called them. I reminded myself that their house, 1600 [...]

Here’s some video of poetry slam founder Marc Kelly Smith, who I wrote about yesterday. The first link (excuse the lighting) is a show I put together for the Society of Midland Authors April program in the beautiful Cliff Dwellers Club on Michigan Avenue. The room is all windows, high in the air, with a [...]

I first met poet and poetry slam founder Marc Kelly Smith in a class that he taught at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, way back in 1991. An enthusiast of poetry and fiction in all of their personalities for a long while, I can say with pride that I am but one of a legion of [...]

Last week, the New York Times asked, “Is Slam Poetry Going Soft?” I was intrigued by the question, but I didn’t think they answered it. So I asked Mark Eleveld, a Booklist reviewer, the author of The Spoken Word Revolution Redux, and a poetry publisher himself, to take a crack at it. Mark’s credentials and [...]

Booklist copyeditor extraordinaire Eloise Kinney passed on an urgent news item: Craig Arnold, a poet (Shells, 1999) and university professor, is missing in Japan (”University Professor Missing for Several Days,” Laramie Boomerang).
According to the university, Assistant Professor Craig Arnold, a faculty member in the Department of English, is in Japan through the U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission’s Creative Artists [...]

Is it still National Poetry Month? It is? Good. In a suitably cruel vein, Endpoint, John Updike’s last book of poems (until someone pulls another out of a drawer) talks seriously about the business of dying (”Does Updike’s Last Verse Hit Its Mortal Mark? Plainly.” by Michael Dirda, Washington Post).
In “Flying to Florida” Updike reflects on, [...]

Donna Seaman, in her Booklist review of the essay collection A Narrative Compass: Stories That Guide Women’s Lives, wrote: “In each elegant interpretation, the author traces the ripple effects of a story that thrilled or provoked her, a story that became a catalyst for a lifelong passion, and a story that became a virtual [...]

Fanny Howe, author of five novels and many books of poetry (including Gone, reviewed by Donna Seaman), has been recognized by the Poetry Foundation for a lifetime of achievement. The Ruth Lilly Prize is $100,000.
But the real story is that the critics get love, too. Ange Milinko, a poetry critic, earned $10,000 for her work. [...]

 . . . so far. Via Galleycat, Colson Whitehead offers a sample of his proposed poetry series Tony Danza Miracles: Haiku Inspired by Popular Television Programs. This one is a poem for the hero of 24.
Release Jack Bauer!
Quickly they reconsider
Arrest Jack Bauer!

As Laura Tillotson reminded us, April is not only the cruellest month, it’s also National Poetry Month. Alas, poetry readership is at a 16-year low (”The End of Verse?” by Marc Bain, Newsweek). There are many things you can do to fight this depressing trend. You could take down that tattered copy of Robert Frost [...]