News 2016: UMass Dartmouth to celebrate national poetry month

News 2016: UMass Dartmouth to celebrate national poetry month
UMass Dartmouth to celebrate national poetry month

Series of poetry readings are planned on campus during the national literary celebration

Brenda Marie
Last year UMassD welcomed First Poet Laureate for Louisiana Brenda Marie Osbey

UMass Dartmouth's College of Arts & Sciences has invited the University community and the general public to celebrate National Poetry Month, recognized annually during the month of April. A series of poetry readings are planned on campus during the national literary celebration. National Poetry Month at UMass Dartmouth will also include the 2nd annual Temper Poetry Reading, featuring students reading their original works.

This April marks the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month, which was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. National Poetry Month is the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K-12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, bloggers, and, of course, poets marking poetry's important place in our culture and our lives.

National Poetry Month events include:

April 5

Marge Piercy

Praised as one of the country's best-selling poets, Marge Piercy will read poems from Made in Detroit and The Hunger Moon: Selected Poems in celebration of National Poetry Month.

4 p.m., UMass Dartmouth Claire T. Carney Library Stoico/FIRSTFED Charitable Foundation Grand Reading Room

April 11

To Be Heard – Film Documentary

To Be Heard is the story of three teens from the South Bronx whose struggle to change their lives begins when they start to write poetry. The three emerge as accomplished self-aware artists, who use their creativity to alter their circumstances.

6 p.m., UMass Dartmouth’s Main Auditorium

April 13

WORD! Poetry Slam

Join the community in a poetry slam! Performances by students from Professor Morgan James “Mwalim” Peters' ENL/BLS 200 class, as well as an open mic for anyone else who wants to perform.

6 p.m., UMass Dartmouth’s Woodland Commons 

April 20

The Reading Stage Series

Two evenings of staged readings of new one-act plays. Each evening will present five new plays, written as final projects for the Advanced Playwriting class offered by the English Department and taught by multi-award-winning playwright and professor, Morgan James “Mwalim” Peters.

6:30 p.m., UMass Dartmouth, Liberal Arts Building, Room 104

April 21

Temper Reading

Join undergraduate and graduate students in the annual Temper reading. Share a poem you’ve written or one written by someone else that you love in this community event for students, faculty, and staff.

5 p.m., Liberal Arts Building Atrium

April 25

Claudia Rankine

Claudia Rankine will be reading from her award winning book Citizen: An American Lyric, which is a unique mixture of poetry, prose, and visual image.

4 p.m., Woodland Commons

The Reading Stage Series

Two evenings of staged readings of new one-act plays. Each evening will present five new plays, written as final projects for the Advanced Playwriting class offered by the English Department and taught by multi-award-winning playwright and professor, Morgan James “Mwalim” Peters.

6:30 p.m., Liberal Arts Building, Room 104