Diane Lockward's Blog, page 51

Girl Talk: A Reading in Celebration of Women's History Month

Last Saturday I ran a poetry reading called "Girl Talk." This was the third year of what I initially thought would be a once-only event. I've wanted to continue doing it because it has been fun and the people who participate ask to do it again. The event is held at my local library which has a nice Community Room. The librarian works with me in making the arrangements.

Here's how it goes. A few months before the selected date, always March to coincide with Women's History Month, I invite a few...

Book Trailer Recap

Thanks to everyone who commented on my book trailers either here or by email. I really appreciate that. The votes were fairly even but the iMovie took a slight lead, and I will now say that that's the one I'm partial to. I love the glitz of the Animoto one. The special effects are lively and appealing, but I felt that they distracted from the content. Interestingly, the people who favored that one said that it moved faster. Actually, it's a few seconds longer than the iMovie one. I think the ...

An Invitation to Girl Talk Reading

You're Invited

Girl Talk: A Women's Poetry Reading

Saturday, March 13, 2010

A Celebration of Women's History Month

More than Two Dozen Women Poets

Reading Poems That Reflect the Lives of Women

1:00 PM-4:00 PM

Community Room
West Caldwell Public Library
30 Clinton Rd.
West Caldwell, New Jersey
973-226-5441

Free and Open to the Public

Tea Party Following the Reading
Please join the poets for coffee, tea, cookies, and conversation.
Books available for sale and signing.

For details and directions

My Book Trailer(s): The Unveiling

If you've been following my recent blog posts, you know that I've been working on making a book trailer for my poetry book, What Feeds Us. This is in the nature of an experiment. Having noticed that many prose writers make book trailers, I began to wonder why poets weren't doing the same thing. It seemed logical to me that we should be making trailers. After all, poetry is the oral art. It seemed to me that we were missing an opportunity to get our voices heard and to try another marketing st...

The Poet on the Poem: Jan Beatty

I had the pleasure of hearing Jan Beatty read at the 2008 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. I was captivated by the sound of her voice and the contrast between the softness of her voice and the tough subject matter she deals with in her poems. After reading her book, Red Sugar, I contacted her and am happy to say that she agreed to discuss one of her poems here.


Jan Beatty's third book, Red Sugar, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in Spring, 2008. Red Sugar was named a fina...

Book Trailer or Poem Video?

As I continue my research into the subject of book trailers for poetry books, I've also been looking at a number of videos which feature a single poem. Sandra Beasley and I are on somewhat similar paths, i.e., both delving into how to make videos, but she's pursuing the individual poem video while I'm pursuing the video that introduces the viewer / reader to the book. I don't, however, see these as opposing paths. I don't think you have to choose one or the other. Why not do both?

Sandra has w...

Who Needs a Good Laugh?

We all need a good laugh. I found one the other day while continuing my research into book trailers. I again visited the Book Screening site and checked out several of the poetry offerings. This one by Robert Sward, poet, novelist, editor, and workshop provider, made me laugh out loud. This is a poem from his collection, The Collected Poems of Robert Sward 1957-2004. Take a look, and if you know how this was made, please let me know. Enjoy.

More on Book Trailers

I'm continuing my research into the subject of movie trailers. I continue to find quite a few for prose books but very few for poetry books. I found one site, Book Screening, which hosts book trailers in many categories. I found 184 in the Mystery/Thriller category and 251 in the Non-Fiction category but only 17 in Poetry. In the Poetry group, several were videos of readings of individual poems but not really book trailers. We poets need to learn something from the writers in other genres. Le...

Who Needs a Love Poem?

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I visited the high school where I used to teach English. The ESL had teacher invited me to work with her students. Each day I visited two classes, both small and with kids from a variety of countries, such as Russia, China, Iran, Korea, and El Salvador. We wrote poems and had a great time.

I also visited the International Club after school. The teacher had asked me to read some love poems to them since Valentine's Day is close. I read six poems and then took...

The Motion of the Ocean

(click for Amazon)

I love memoirs. And I've been getting interested in book trailers. They strike me as a great way to get people interested in your book. I've also been wondering why poets don't seem to make use of book trailers. After all, poetry is the oral art, right? With a new poetry book coming out soon, I've been considering the possibility of making a trailer. I've found lots of poetry videos, but none that specifically features a book. There are, however, lots of prose book trailers,...