Founded by The Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month is celebrating a major anniversary this year. Every April for the past twenty-five years, poets and lovers of poetry have gathered together in person and online to celebrate all aspects of poetry. This year, Lehigh Libraries has a slate of virtual and in-person events as our celebration of National Poetry Month:

Poets for Justice Poetry Slam

The Poets for Justice are a collective of local artists, including poets and singers, who are "dedicated to encouraging hope and inspiration by uniting creative voices of those who believe in justice and racial equality." Artists from the local community will perform works related to racial and social justice.

When: Saturday, April 17th from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Levitt Pavilion, SteelStacks. The event will also be livestreamed on Zoom.

For the in-person event, register here. For the livestream, register here.

Read more about the event on LTS News.

Sponsored by The Friends of the Lehigh University Libraries.

A Reading and Conversation with Lauren K. Alleyne

To celebrate National Poetry Month, the Friends of the Lehigh Libraries is sponsoring a reading and conversation with poet Lauren K. Alleyne. Professor Alleyne is the Assistant Director of James Madison University’s  Furious Flower Poetry Center, the nation’s first academic center for Black poetry. She will be reading from her latest poetry collection, Honeyfish, and will be talking about her experiences directing Furious Flower Poetry Center. This event is a Zoom event.

When: Wednesday, April 28 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

To register, visit go.lehigh.edu/alleyne

Read more about Ms. Alleyne and the event on LTS News.

Sponsored by The Friends of the Lehigh University Libraries.

Poem in Your Pocket Day - April 29

A yearly tradition of the Academy of American Poets, Poem in Your Pocket Day is a day when poetry is exchanged widely and joyfully. It will be held on April 29 this year. Follow @lehighlibraries on Instagram for poems throughout the day. Post your own favorite poems and tag us! The event uses #pocketpoem across all social media platforms. No registration required to participate - just a love of poetry!

OverDrive Poetry Collection

Discover and read a diverse selection of poets in this year's Poetry Month OverDrive Collection, which includes titles from Danez Smith, Claudia Rankine, Ocean Vuong, and rupi kaur, among many others.

If you're new to OverDrive, please see directions for setting up an account here.