April is National Poetry Month which, as the name suggests, is a month-long celebration of poetry in all of its forms. As regular readers might remember, I always try to do something special in April to mark the month ranging from blogging every day to sharing poems I love.
This year, to make National Poetry Month really special I asked a group of bloggers and authors to contribute guest posts for a month long series called Poetically Speaking with Miss Print talking about all things poetry here on the blog.
Some days may have multiple posts but every day will feature at least one post about poetry.
Here’s a full schedule of what you can expect (on the day of each post you can click the poster’s name to see their post!):
- April 1: Introduction
- April 2: Terra Elan McVoy (author of verse novel After the Kiss and more including her latest Drive me Crazy) shares her deep and abiding admiration of Emily Dickinson’s poetry
- April 3: Rachel Hartman (author of Seraphina and Shadow Scale) talks about the joys of writing poetry and using poetry to cope with life
- April 4: Kalli (poet and librarian extraordinaire) talks about running a poetry series
- April 5: Week One Wrap Up
- April 6: Veronica from The Talking (Blogging) Bookworm on the therapeutic properties of writing poetry
- April 7: Sarah Jamila Stevenson (author of The Latte Rebellion and more) and blogger at Finding Wonderland discusses the power of poetry and poetry outreach and how it can foster connections within the community
- April 8: I (Miss Print) review Undercover by Beth Kephart
- April 9: Kelly Jensen from Stacked and BookRiot discusses verse as a feminist tool of voice and subversion in YA Lit–and beyond
- April 10: Kayla from The Thousand Lives discusses her love for four of her favorite poems.
- April 11: Sarah from What Sarah Read shares her connection to “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”
- April 12: Week Two Wrap Up
- April 13: Tessa Gratton (author of The Lost Sun, The Strange Maid and more) talks about Gloria Anzaldua, the poet who taught her to listen and transform
- April 14: Jenny Hubbard (author of Paper Covers Rock and And We Stay) details what Emily Dickinson taught her in this post called “Dresses with Pockets”
- April 15: I (Miss Print) talk about my love for villanelles and particularly “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop
- April 16: Justina Chen (author of A Blind Spot For Boys and more) interviews poets Janet S. Wong and Sylvia Vardell about their poetry anthologies
- April 17: Molly from Wrapped Up in Books discusses poetry in translation specifically Federico Garcia Lorca
- April 18: Eden from Blogging Between the Lines shows you how to start your own poetry workshop with young people
- April 19: Week Three Wrap Up
- April 20: Amy from Beastbrarian talks about the way fandoms, particularly on Tumblr, have embraced poetry.
- April 21: Janet S. Wong (author of numerous picture books and poetry collections for children including This Next New Year) shares some tips for getting your writing in shape with poetry
- April 22: Lisa Ann Sandell (author of verse novels The Weight of the Sky, Song of the Sparrow and A Map of the Known World) talks about her own introduction to verse novels including Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
- April 23: Sarah Beth Durst (author of numerous books including Vessel and Chasing Power) talks about poetry that breaks rules and her lifelong love of Emily Dickinson’s groundbreaking work
- April 24: Kat Ellis (author of Blackfin Sky) explains how Ted Hughes’s ‘The Thought-Fox’ taught her to think like a writer
- April 25: Liz from Consumed by Books shares her thoughts on Things I Have to Tell You
- April 26: Week Four Wrap Up
- April 27: Elizabeth Wein (author of Code Name Verity, Rose Under Fire and more) writes about the making of “Love Song and Self Portrait” in Rose Under Fire in her post titled “Fearful Symmetry – Taking Inspiration from Prisoner Poetry”
- April 28: Nicole the Book Bandit explains why Sylvia Plath is her favorite poet
- April 29: I (Miss Print) review Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero
- April 30: Nova Ren Suma (author of several books for young adults including Imaginary Girls and her latest The Walls Around Us) discusses Anne Sexton and the role her poetry almost played in The Walls Around Us
- May 1: Closing Thoughts
So remember to check Miss Print often this April for lots of great poety-centric content!
Miss Print 