Greetings, Poetry Lovers!
First, HUGE Congrats to some of our hometown poetic heroes... Monday was a big awards day in kidlit-land. THE CAT MAN OF ALEPPO, written by our own Irene Latham & Karim Shamsi-Basha & illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, and published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, was named a Caldecott Honor Book! And A PLACE AT THE TABLE, by Saadia Faruqi and our own Laura Shovan, published by Clarion Books, was a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable Book. CONGRATS, you two, and to all who were recognized across all the categories.
Speaking of nice surprises, I received another New Year Poem Postcard this week! Rebecca Herzog sent this energetic collage/haiku combination above. I was humming along to the excerpted lyrics floating in the art on the front (love those layers!!) before reading her own musical poem on the back.
A QUIET MORNING
REFLECTIONS ON A NEW YEAR
MUSIC TO MY EARS
Image and poem ©Rebecca Herzog.
Thanks for the uplifting mailbox gift, Becky!
And, speaking of haiku, I'm excited to share that I'll be leading a free online two-part haiku workshop for the Oconee County Arts Foundation (Watkinsville, Georgia) at the end of next month, February 23rd and 25th, from 1-2:30 p.m. each day. It's part of a wonderful month-long program, "Small Works Inspired by Poetry."
Click here for more info, and here for the description and registration page. The foundation director says local and non-local folks are welcome to register. (These free workshops will not be recorded by OCAF since participants will be potentially on the screen and permissions would be required, etc.)
Now, tap your toes and warm up your voice - our beautiful Jan at Bookseedstudio has the Roundup today on a theme that Becky's poem and art complement perfectly!