The Dodge Poetry Program proposed two panels for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in Seattle next week. Both were accepted, and we are looking forward both to sharing our experiences working with New Jersey poets and teachers, as well as gathering ideas and experiences from other organizations around the country. We feel it is so important to see how many different communities welcome people to poetry, to further our mission of helping more people to encounter poetry in their lives.
We will also have a booth at the bookfair (#303) for more information on the 2014 Festival. We hope that if you’re headed to Seattle, you’ll come and say hello! Here are the panel descriptions:
Nothing to Prove, Nothing to Lose: Introducing People to Poetry Without Scaring Them Away
Panelists: Dodge Poets Renée Ashley, Crystal Bacon and J.C. Todd
Moderator: Martin Farawell, Dodge Poetry
Description: What keeps people from embracing poetry? Were they taught it in a way that made it seem an intellectual puzzle they weren’t smart enough to solve? Did the poetry they were exposed to seem irrelevant to their lives? The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Program staff and poets will share an approach for engaging newcomers in poetry that reduces their fear and values their individual response. The program has introduced thousands of teachers and students to the pleasure of reading and hearing poetry.
Here‘s the Facebook event
Room 2B, Washington State Convention Center, Level 2
Saturday, March 1, 2014
4:30 pm to 5:45 pm
Poetry and the Online Community: Using Digital Media to Build Audience
Panelists: Jen Benka (The Academy of American Poets), Rebecca Gambale (Dodge Poetry), Catherine Halley (Poetry Foundation & Poetry Magazine), Reginald Harris (Poets House)
Moderator: Michele Russo (Dodge Poetry)
Description:
Online outreach is a powerful tool for engaging a wider audience with poetry. Representatives from four poetry organizations discuss approaches and challenges of engaging the online community at large not only for the benefit of their own organization, but for poetry as a whole. While acting as online ambassadors of poetry, organizations large and small can spread the word through their web presence via their own websites, apps, and social media.
Here‘s the Facebook Event
Room 607, Washington State Convention Center, Level 6
Friday, February 28, 2014
10:30 am to 11:45 am