UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Poems by James Brasfield, Meg Day, Fred Shaw and Laura Spagnoli were selected for the 2017 Public Poetry Project poster series, and each of the poets will read their works as part of “An Evening of Pennsylvania Poets: Readings in Celebration of the Public Poetry Project” at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 20. The 17th annual event will be held in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, on Penn State’s University Park campus and will be available on Mediasite Live.
The hourlong poetry reading event will be followed by a 30-minute poster- and book-signing session. This year’s posters were designed by Nathan Valchar of the University Libraries and will be available at no charge at this event. The posters also will be distributed at the National Book Festival in September, an annual event organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress.
Started in 1999 by the late Kim Fisher, the first Paterno Family Librarian for Literature, the Public Poetry Project seeks to make poetry more available in the daily lives of Pennsylvanians by placing poems in public places. Posters of the winning poems are produced, and since 2000, more than 70 poets with a connection to Pennsylvania, either by birth or long period of residency, have had their work displayed as part of this series.
The Public Poetry Project is under the direction of Ellysa Cahoy, assistant director, and Caroline Wermuth, outreach coordinator, for the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, and is supported by the Paterno Family Librarian for Literature, William S. Brockman; the University Libraries; the Department of English in the College of the Liberal Arts; and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
An American Sign Language interpreter will be provided for the April 20 Public Poetry Project event. For more information, including physical access and other special accommodations, contact Caroline Wermuth at cvw1@psu.edu or 814-863-5472. For more information about the Public Poetry Project, visit its website.