It’s Day 4 of our month-long #WaterPoemProject. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere. I’m excited to welcome verse novelist Shari Green to our project. She’s got a great writing prompt for us […]
National Poetry Month
Wednesday, 25 March 2020
Tuesday, 24 March 2020
Welcome back to our month-long WaterPoemProject. It’s Day 3. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ. Children’s poet and school librarian Linda Mitchell is sharing the writing prompt today. Linda’s poetry prompt is a Found Haiku using Wonderopolis You may have tried writing a haiku before. (Check out children’s poet Kenn Nesbitt’s […]
Monday, 23 March 2020
Welcome back to our month-long #WaterPoemProject. It’s Day 2. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ. Today our surprise writing prompt creator is children’s poet Elizabeth Steinglass. Liz’s poetry prompt is: What Would a Raindrop Say? Precipitation is water that falls to the ground as rain, snow, sleet, hail, or mist. […]
Sunday, 22 March 2020
Welcome poets, to Day 1 of our month-long #WaterPoemProject. If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ. I couldn’t think of a better person to kick things off than children’s poet (and my dear friend) Irene Latham. Irene’s poetry prompt is: The Language of Water “How does water speak? What does […]
Sunday, 22 March 2020
#WaterPoemProject FAQ Thanks for visiting the project FAQ. Please post any questions in the comments. I will be adding to the Q&A throughout the project. For Educators and Adults Q: How do I find the prompt of the day? A: Writing prompts from authors will be posted each evening on Laura Shovan’s blog and on […]
Sunday, 22 March 2020
Dear Educators and Parents, I am putting together a community poetry project for kids. Adults can play along too. [Note: This is a condensed version of this introduction. To read the full post, please visit the Nerdy Book Club blog.] I run an annual poetry writing project for adults. For one month, participants receive a […]
Tuesday, 16 April 2019
April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. From “The Waste Land” by T. S. Eliot (Read the poem at the Poetry Foundation) Ever wondered why we celebrate National Poetry Month in April? It is the cruellest month, according to T. […]
Thursday, 26 April 2018
To celebrate the last Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month, I’d like to introduce you to Henry Crawford. This fall, Henry was a featured reader at Wilde Readings — the local literary series I co-host with poets Ann Bracken and Linda Joy Burke. I was intrigued by the way Henry’s work as a lawyer and […]
Thursday, 12 April 2018
Shh! Welcome, but come in quietly. It’s a Poetry Friday surprise birthday party. The guest of honor? Lee Bennett Hopkins! (Whoops — no exclamation points. We’re trying to keep this party a secret.) Lee is not only a wonderful children’s poet and Guinness World Record holding anthologist (really — the citation is here), he has […]
Wednesday, 11 April 2018
Happy National Poetry Month, everyone! The paperback edition of The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary comes out this week. To celebrate, I’m doing a *big* giveaway: A class set of books for one lucky teacher or librarian! How do you enter? Simple. I want to hear — and share — how your students are […]
Laura Shovan is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Her second book, Takedown, is a Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selection. Look for A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi, in 2020. Laura is a poet-in-the-schools Maryland.
