Cleveland Public Library, in recognition of National Poetry Month, will host the free and open to the public debut reading from a new book on the poets and poetry of Cleveland, Cleveland Poetry Scenes: A Panorama and Anthology, Sunday, April 27, 2:00 p.m., LLouis Stokes Wing Auditorium, Main Library, 6th Street and Superior Avenue. The editors and many of the poets whose writings appear in the book will read from their work.
Edited by Clevelanders Nina Freedlander Gibans and Mary E. Weems, and Bottom Dog Press publisher Larry Smith, it is a collection of writings and essays on the city’s historic and current literary scene, and profiles of poets from World War II to the present. The book is supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, and the AHS Foundation.
Historically important poets included are Langston Hughes, Hart Crane, Alberta Turner, Robert Wallace, James C. Kilgore, d.a.levy, and the late Daniel Thompson. More recent poets included are Tom Kryss, Amy Sparks, Ray McNiece, Michael Salinger, Katie Daley, Kelly Harris, Daniel Gray-Kontar, Bree Bodnar, Sara Holbrook, Mwatabu Okantah, and others.
Besides Editor Smith’s Chronology of Cleveland Poetry Scenes 1945-2008, there are articles on the Cleveland Underground Poetry of the 1960’s by Kent Taylor, a poetry scene memoir by Diane Kendig, a recollection from Mac’s Backs Bookstore’s Suzanne DeGaetano, and profiles of other venues. Editor Weems writes about performance poetry. Slam poetry is covered by Michael Salinger and Ray McNiece. Poetry organizations include the Black Poetic Society, The Lit: