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Western Illinois University Libraries will be one of many WIU and Macomb entities participating in the first-ever Macomb Poetry Festival, which is set for Thursday-Saturday, April 21-23. The festival, which takes place during National Poetry Month, will feature events on campus and in downtown Macomb. More information about the festival is available at www.facebook.com/MacombILPoetryFestival.
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WIU Libraries to Host Events for Inaugural Macomb Poetry Festival Celebration April 21-23

April 11, 2016

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MACOMB, IL — Western Illinois University Libraries will be one of many WIU and Macomb entities participating in the first-ever Macomb Poetry Festival, which is set for Thursday-Saturday, April 21-23. The festival, which takes place during National Poetry Month, will feature events on campus and in downtown Macomb. More information about the festival is available at www.facebook.com/MacombILPoetryFestival.

Events slated to take place at the Leslie F. Malpass Library on WIU's Macomb campus are listed below.

Poem in Your Pocket Day

Thursday, April 21 (all day), Malpass Library
This day is an annual part of National Poetry Month developed by the Academy of American Poets. Staff and faculty in Western's Malpass Library will encourage participation by distributing short poems—printed small enough for most pockets—free for anyone to take and share. A small selection of poetry books (available for check out) will accompany the printed poems, and assistance finding more poetry collections will also be available at the Malpass Library reference desk. "Poem in Your Pocket Day" will also be observed at New Copperfield Book Service at 120 N. Side Square in Macomb.

Blackout Poetry Workshop

11-11:50 a.m., Thursday, April 21, Malpass Library, room 180
Blackout poetry is a technique for creating poetry that takes an existing text—such as a page from a book or a newspaper article—and obscures or "blacks out" certain words in order to highlight others. The remaining, highlighted words create a new poem from the original text. Barb Harroun and Rebekah Buchanan, WIU faculty from the English department, will lead workshop participants through the process of creating their own poems using this technique. Participants may bring their own existing texts or use those provided at the workshop.

Poets of Community and Human Struggle: Edgar Lee Masters and Carl Sandburg

10-11 a.m. Friday, April 22, Malpass Library Garden Lounge
Western Illinois University Distinguished Professor Emeritus John E. Hallwas will present "Poets of Community and Human Struggle: Edgar Lee Masters and Carl Sandburg." His lecture, made possible through the Illinois Humanities Council Roads Scholar Program, will introduce the audience to the poetry of Masters and Sandburg contained in "Spoon River Anthology" and "Chicago Poems." Both of these works were published almost exactly one century ago, making this a wonderful time to revisit them. A literary scholar and teacher, Hallwas has written extensively on Masters and Sandburg. In 1992, he published an annotated edition of Masters' "Spoon River Anthology," as well as an edition of Sandburg's "Chicago Poems," in which he authored the introduction.

For more information about poetry events in University Libraries, contact Christina Norton, outreach librarian, at CA-Norton@wiu.edu or (309) 298-3298. For information about the Macomb Poetry Festival, contact Downtown Development Director Kristin Terry at kterry@cityofmacomb.com.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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