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| Meryl Streep |
According to the Academy, the actors will be part of the Poetry and the Creative Mind Gala and reading held in New York City. This year, the event will be held on April 27, 2011 again at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. Participants in the reading this year will be: Meryl Streep, Cassandra Wilson, Uma Thurman, Patti Smith, Liev Schreiber, Jesse Eisenberg, Michael Cunningham, and Alec Baldwin. Ticket sales benefit the Academy and the running of National Poetry Month, an event said by the academy to be "the largest literary celebration in the world."
Another project of this year's National Poetry Month will be "30 Poets, 30 Days: Guest Poets on Twitter." Interested readers can follow the academy's Twitter account at: @POETSorg and will be treated to a new poem by a guest poet each day. Each poet has 24 hours to post a poem before the relay moves to the next poet on the list. Contemporary poets such as D. A. Powell; Dawn Lundy Martin; Jennifer Chang; CAConrad; Amy King; and several others are scheduled to participate.
April 14, 2011 will be National Poem in Your Pocket Day. On this day, students and fans of poetry are encouraged to slip a favorite pocket-length poem in their pockets to carry with them that day and share with their friends, co-workers, and others. Another idea is to place a small copy of a favorite poem into the pockets of loved ones and friends. Participants might also think of ways to share poems through technology, such as adding a few lines to their signature lines on emails, or jotting a few lines to the backs of business cards.
Poets.org has also launched a Poem Flow application for iPhones. The app includes daily poems, text that can be manipulated, and literary trivia among other features.
Local events at schools, libraries, museums, cafes, and other locations also take place across the country for National Poetry Month. However one chooses to celebrate the next 30 days, the hope of National Poetry Month organizers is to increase awareness, appreciation, and participation in the literary artform.
Sources: http://www.examiner.com
