It’s No Joke! April 1st Kicks Off National Poetry Month

April marks the beginning of National Poetry Month!

While poetry can and should be celebrated all year round, this is the “official” month to celebrate poetry in all of its various forms. Literary geeks around the country will soon participate in another annual National Poetry Month, which was first founded in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. While it is nothing shy of ironic that April was chosen—T.S. Eliot, the father of postmodern poetry, famously described April as “the cruellest month”—Smithsonian historian David C. Ward suggests that spring is the perfect time to revive the art of poetic expression. Here at WFU Press, we tend to agree.

If you wish to join in on all the fun, The New York

Times keeps a running list highlighting some of the poetry-related events going on around the country. Our personal favorite is Poem in Your Pocket Day, set for April 30 this year. It’s one of the easiest ways that anyone can participate because it’s all about sharing. Make sure to stash a copy of your favorite poem in your back pocket to share with family and friends, or share online by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

We kicked off National Poetry Month with our annual student poetry contest and celebration at the Community Arts Café in downtown Winston-Salem, where musicians and poets came together to share their work (photos below).

We hope you’ll discover your own unique way to celebrate National Poetry Month this year, keeping one of the world’s oldest literary forms alive and well.