Poetry Podcasts for National Poetry Month

Poetry is best appreciated when read aloud, especially so when read by the poets themselves. Present-day technology has brought forth a wealth of opportunities to hear the voices of poets past and present.  A superb source of poetry read by the poet is The Poetry Archive which offers the voices of classic poets going as far back as Browning and Tennyson (yes, really!) along with contemporary poets and everything in between.

The Poetry Archive came into being as a result of a meeting, in a recording studio, between Andrew Motion, soon after he became U.K. Poet Laureate in 1999, and the recording producer, Richard Carrington.  Its mission statement reminds us that "poetry was an oral art form before it became textual. Homer's work lived through the spoken word long before any markings were made on a page. Hearing a poet reading his or her work remains uniquely illuminating. It helps us to understand the work as well as helping us to enjoy it. When a poet dies without making a recording, a precious resource is lost for ever and as time goes by that loss is felt more and more keenly. What would we not give to be able to hear Keats and Byron reading their work?"

To reach The Poetry Archive click here

These are other excellent sources of poetry aloud --

The Poet and the Poem (Library of Congress)

Poem of the Day (Poetry Foundation)

The Poetic Voice (Houghton Mifflin Publishers)

Classic Poetry Aloud (PodOmatic)

Poets.org (The Academy of American Poets)

PEN Podcasts (PEN American Center)

Hear Authors Read Their Work on The Writers' Block Podcasts

A decade or so ago, even unknown authors often found themselves on publisher-funded promotional tours.  Bookstores worked overtime to keep up with busy schedules of reading/signing events for authors passing through town. Those days are gone but we can now console ourselves with podcasts.  Hear the voices of contemporary authors of both fiction and non-fiction at The Writers' Block, an impressive series of podcasts put out by KQED, San Francisco's NPR/PBS outlet.  Writers can also submit their own work to the series.  The focus is on younger writers so you're likely to encounter some new, interesting voices.    

Richard Nash on Revaluing the Book

Flickr photo by jessamyn

"I’m tremendously optimistic about the future of the book as an object. I think the worst years of the book as an object have been the last 50 years," said Richard Nash, founder of the new experimental publishing community Red Lemonade and former head of leading independent publisher Soft Skull Press. In an interview with Matt Runkle for the Boston Review, the provocative Nash explains how new media can offer choices to readers that were impossible under the old corporate publishing model and that the traditional book will remain an option if enough readers want it. Nash asks -- "Why do we think that a person won’t buy a print book because in theory they could read it for free online? What is it that people are buying? What is it that people want? In many respects what people want is to read it on their own terms, so in many cases, people don’t want to have to read it on a screen."

To read the full Boston Review interview with Nash click here

Here's more -- "Richard Nash: Publishers Have Lost Their Way, Becoming Printers and Distributors Rather Than Matchmaker." Nash in video interview with Paul Carr of TechCrunch. June 15th, 2011.

Margaret Atwood Addresses O'Reilly TOC Conference

Canadian novelist, poet, and essayist Margaret Atwood stands a good chance of someday joining the canon of the English literature greats. The always engaging Atwood gave this talk on writers and new media -- "The Publishing Pie: An Author's View" -- at the O'Reilly Tools of Change in Publishing conference earlier this year in New York City. It's well worth a look. And it's funny.





Additional Sources:

• Atwood's official website (very thorough) 
• Atwood's WordPress blog (no postings since April 2011) 
• Atwood's Paris Review interview (From 1990 but still interesting)