Humans of New York

My favorite kind of books are often those that make me think about the deep things of life: what matters the most in the short time each of us has on earth, the circumstances that can affect us all, human nature.  Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton gets me thinking about such things.

I hadn't yet heard of "HONY," so when I first picked it up, I thought it was a fashion book.  It does have significant elements of fashion, as it is full of pictures of people, however, it is more a "photographic census of New York City," as the author puts it.  Adjacent to most of the photos are a quote from the subject, or a humorous (or even, to my dismay, political) comment by Stanton.  I love that he is able to bring out the spirit and humanity of each individual simply with a photograph and a quote.  As I look at each person, I feel strangely well acquainted with them.  I feel I am glimpsing into their soul, and it is humbling.  Holding in my hands such a wide variety of people is moving as well, and brings up those sorts of questions I love pondering: how can there be so many people in the world, and yet each of us is truly unique?  Even the people most similar to us, perhaps our friends and family, have many differences.  From our worldviews to our clothes, our preferences to our dreams, not to mention our physical distinctions, each of us is so varied one from another.  And yet, these photographs remind me that we all have the desire burning somewhere inside of us to be the best we can be, to find love and connection, and to have a good life.  HONY manages to harmonize human difference and similarity in a touching yet jocular way.

Humans Of New York grew out of, first Stanton's personal Facebook posts of his photographs, then a HONY Facebook page, and finally, a blog on Tumblr.  The addition of a short interview to his photos is, in my opinion, what makes what he does so compelling.  See Stanton's daily posts continuing this work at his website, Humans of New York.

Also, check out Stanton's version of HONY for children, Little Humans. Because the text is speaking to 2 to 6 year olds, it lacks the same depth as in the adult version, but it's still really worth a look!

Comics 101: Comic Books for Adults Who Don't Read Comics

Let’s clear things up right now. Age, sex, gender, religion, shape, size, reading habits, interest, political beliefs…. it doesn’t matter. Comics are for everybody and you don’t have to be “into comics”  to enjoy them. Like books, comic book genres run the gamut, you’ve got everything from superheroes to memoirs to weirdo sci-fi nonsense to sports. Just because the medium uses art to facilitate the storytelling process doesn’t mean that all comics are juvenile. Comics can be lighthearted all-ages read, but they can also be dense and violent. Story-wise, you would be hard pressed to find a comic that didn’t fit someone’s interests. Then, you’ve got your art. It’s not all just newspaper comic strip art. Some of it is photorealistic, others abstract. There’s pencil and ink art, there’s painted art, there’s computer art. Again, there’s something for everyone.
~Eric Margolis, "You Don't Have to Be 'Into Comics' to Read Comics" 

I started out with Fables, since I have a fondness for adapted fairytales. It came through as a repair job when I worked in the conservation lab at UCLA. Until then, I didn’t realize that there were comics for adults that didn’t have superheroes in them.
~Carrie, librarian

We want you to read comics! No excuses.  No exceptions. ABC Library's collection of comics (search the catalog for: graphic novels - there's a big debate on what they should be called) is exploding, and it's not all superheroes and manga - though there's plenty of those, that's not what we'll be discussing here.

Many adults say they aren't interested in comics because they are for children.  Many parents have to be convinced to let their children read comics because they consider them fun or light, not serious reading. To the first point, Scott McCloud, a comics theorist, would argue that "...our minds become the driving force behind reading a comic or graphic novel. Reading graphic novels is the most participatory form of reading, and your brain learns to read in an entirely different way." Besides the complexity of the text and drawing that a comic can exhibit, there are a whole lot of comics out there with themes suitable for mature readers these days - memoirs and mysteries and beyond. To the second point, Neil Gaiman would say: "The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them." As comic book readers ourselves, we can tell you that some of us started with Asterix and Tintin and Archie comics in childhood, later became English majors and read more than our fair share of the literary canon, and as gainfully employed adults still find time to read literary fiction - in our experience, seems like reading comics and graphic novels does not necessarily stunt your reading growth.

The other side of the coin is people sometimes tell us they find comics difficult to read.  There are a couple of books in the system that delve deep into the medium, with discussions of  the history, theory, art, and meaning of comics, cartoons, and graphic novels. We recommend, to start: Reading Comics: How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean by Douglas Wolk and Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud. Or, take a look at Scott McCloud's TED Talk about "The Visual Magic of Comics". If Scott McCloud's enthusiasm doesn't reel you in, we don't know what will.

How to do you find comics that you might be interested in? Well, Albuquerque certainly has its fair share of comic book stores, and, though we've all see the stereotypical Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, comic book retailers are not all like that! (But "How to Combat Comic Store Rudeness" is out there, just in case.) Another nice option - and a free one! - is to check the catalog at your local library! We've compiled a list below of comics in a variety of genres to get you started, running the gamut from some heavy-hitters of the genre such as Art Spiegelman, Alan Moore, and Will Eisner to newer comics from different points of view.  We recommend checking a handful out to see what your comic style is - we find that if we don't like the art, it doesn't matter who the comic is by or what its subject is, we're not going to like the book - but there are many different styles out there, so don't give up on the first try!

ABC Library also has a Graphic Novel Club which meets at the Lomas Tramway branch at 2 p.m. on the first Saturday of the month. They welcome new members and don't mind if you haven't read the book! This is a great opportunity to discuss comics with like-minded enthusiasts or to find out more about the genre.

We hope you'll consider checking out some comics today! If you would like to add to our list or have questions, please let us know in the comments.


Crime/Mystery

Scalped: Volume 1, Indian Country by Jason Aaron

Richard Stark's Parker, Vol. 1: The Hunter adapted by Darwyn Cooke

Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales

Fairy Tales

Fables: The Deluxe Edition, Book One by Bill Willingham

Horror/Paranormal

Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill 

Morning Glories: Vol. 1, For a Better Future by Nick Spencer

The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

The Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book One by Alan Moore

War 

The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time - A Doonesbury Book by G.B. Trudeau

Science Fiction/Fantasy

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life. Vol. 1 by Bryan Lee O'Malley

The Unwritten: Vol. 1, Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity by Mike Carey & Peter Gross

Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage by Grant Morrison

Saga: Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

Air: Letters from Lost Countries by G. Willow Wilson  

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

The Finder Library: Volume 1 by Carla Speed McNeil

Bone: Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith

Interiorae by Gabriella Giandelli 

Memoirs

Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Aya by Marguerite Abouet

Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel by Anya Ulinich

Blankets by Craig Thompson

To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel 

Quirky/Miscellaneous

The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman

Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud

A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories by Will Eisner

The Graphic Canon - Volume 1 : From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Shakespeare to Dangerous Liaisons edited by Russ Kick

The Complete Concrete by Paul Chadwick

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle

Fanny & Romeo by Yves Pelletier

Daytripper by Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá
 

If you want to learn more about graphic novels, consider: The Graphic Novel: An Introduction by Jan Baetens; Masterful Marks: Cartoonists Who Changed the World edited by Monte Beauchamp;  Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe by Tim Leong; Outside the Box: Interviews with Contemporary Cartoonists by Hillary L. Chute; and Gene Kannenberg, Jr.'s 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide.

Links

7000 BC - independent comics from New Mexico

How to Get Started Reading Comics That Have Been Running For Decades [Lifehacker]

How to Read Love & Rockets [Fantagraphics]
"The Hernandez brothers' decades-spanning œuvre can seem overwhelming to new readers, but it's actually much easier than you might think, and we've put this handy guide together to prove it. We envy the pleasures that await you."

Grovel 
Graphic novel reviews

No Flying No Tights - "Why Should I Read Comics?'

Panels
"Panels is a celebration of comics, the people who make them, and the people who love them."

Get Graphic
"'Graphic Novel' is a format, not a genre. Graphic novels can be fiction, non-fiction, history, fantasy, or anything in-between."

Internet Public Library [IPL] - Graphic Novels

Great Graphic Novels [American Library Association]

When Fanfiction and other Fictional Works Become Real

I recently read Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, and was struck by the fact that the book includes fanfiction written by the main character, Cath. Throughout the book, Cath reads her fanfiction to her roommate's ex-boyfriend, and what Cath reads is written out in the book.

As it turns out, people loved it so much that Cath's fanfiction story, Carry On, Simon, is now being published as a full-length novel titled Carry On. It seems a little weird to me, especially because I interpreted the fake story of Simon Snow (who Cath's fanfiction is based on) to essentially be Harry Potter. As weird as it seems, I'm also fascinated by it, because Simon Snow apparently has his own fandom. While researching the book that's coming out later this year, I came across fanfiction about Carry On, Simon, which I started referring to as fanfiction about fake fanfiction. Then I found a second fanfiction piece about Carry On, Simon.

I also came across an online store where you can buy a Carry On shirt that is referenced in Fangirl. There are multiple Tumblr pages dedicated to Carry On, Simon (and Fangirl). There's a Tumblr page for Cath. I even found a Pinterest page for it. All you have to do is search Google, and you'll find plenty of sites dedicated to a story that, at one point in time, was nothing more than a story within a story.

I think the reason I'm so fascinated by this is because I've never seen anything like it before. I've known about fanfiction for a long time; a friend introduced me to it, and I read some of it every now and then. I've also known about fandoms, which Wikipedia defines as "a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in minor details of the object(s) of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, often as part of a social network with particular practices (a fandom)." I've never seen a fandom dedicated to a fictional fandom, though, and while I'm not completely sure the fan base surrounding Carry On, Simon is a fandom (yet), I'm not quite sure what to make of it.

I think all of this shows how the nature of publishing is shifting. In addition to Carry On being published, David Levithan recently published Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story, which is the musical a fictional character writes in Will Grayson, Will Grayson. An Imperial Affliction, a novel that Hazel reads in John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, has a cover and is on Goodreads, but it is not actually a book. Instead, it's a book John Green made up for the purpose of The Fault in Our Stars. An Imperial Affliction is not likely to ever actually be written by John Green, but he has an alternative for anyone who wants to read it. And, of course, there are The Tales of Beedle the Bard: A Wizarding Classic From the World of Harry Potter, Quidditch Through the Ages, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which are all fictional books in the world of Harry Potter that have since been published as companion novels to the series.

I think this also leaves something to be said about readers, too. Is the nature of how we read and how we participate in fandoms shifting as we read fictional stories and fanfiction within novels that we then want to see published as their own entities? I imagine so, as it allows us to delve even deeper into something we are already so invested in.

What are your thoughts? Are you interested in reading any of the fictional-turned-real books that I mentioned in this post, or is it a little too strange of a concept?

A Look at Fanfiction

The books we love the most are the ones where you close the book and you’re still thinking about those characters. We want to be drawn into their lives again, because we didn’t get enough the first time.
~Carrie Bebris, author of the Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries

I myself used to write Star Wars fan fiction when I was tween. I think writing fan fiction is a good way for new writers to learn to tell a story.
~ Meg Cabot 

Art isn't your pet - it's your kid.  It grows up and talks back to you.
~Joss Whedon

Fanfiction is defined as fiction written by fans of a TV series, movie, etc., using existing characters and situations to develop new plots. [Dictionary.com] With the continuing success of E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey, the trilogy which had its beginning in online fanfic, it seems like fanfiction (or fanfic) has never been more in the news, but is it really a new thing?

In England The Romance of the Rose was the paradigmatic example of the medieval form: one writer would begin the story and another would complete it. Even Shakespeare, did not own the stories in his plays. A patron would commission him to retell a story and he was paid in royalties. All stories within the medieval period were re-workings of stories about the same characters, but we could not call them fanfic as copyright law and the printing press had not yet sectioned off the professional, paid, copyright owner of original texts, from the rest of the populace, creating a subclass of fans. [Ewan Morrison, in The Guardian]

Other than Fifty Shades of Grey, fanfic that has achieved mainstream publication lately include the After series by Anna Todd, inspired by the boy band One Direction and originally published online on a fanfic site, and, if "fandom legend" is to be believed, Naomi Novik's first novel, Her Majesty’s Dragon (allegedly started as a Master and Commander fanfic). But several published authors you know and love have fanfic connections:  Hugo Award winner Lois McMaster Bujold published an early Star Trek fanfic zine; YA author Cassandra Clare has written "thousands of pages" of fanfic about The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter; and Neil Gaiman has indulged in Chronicles of Narnia and H.P. Lovecraft fanfics. You can also check the library catalog for proto-fanfic - you'll find many examples of books "inspired by" authors such as William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, or "retellings" of popular myths, fairy tales, and other classics, which arguably could qualify. Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys' reimagining of  Jane Eyre from the point of view of Mr. Rochester's first wife, dates back to 1966. From the author's point of view, J.K. Rowling doesn't mind fanfic, Annie Proulx doesn't respect it, Jodi Picoult once tweeted "don't steal a fan base another author's worked hard for", and George R. R. Martin hates it.

Existing between fanfic and original works of literature are book series which have been continued by another author, and tie-in novels and novelizations of TV shows and films which often exist outside the world of the series. Again, you could argue that they are technically "fiction about characters or settings from an original work of fiction, created by fans of that work rather than by its creator". [Wikipedia] For instance, there are actually very few James Bond novels by Ian Fleming - Raymond Benson and John Gardner continued the series. You can also find a new Hercule Poirot mystery that the Agatha Christie estate allowed Sophie Hannah to write; Sebastian Faulks recently published Jeeves and the Wedding Bells: An Homage to P.G. Wodehouse; Eric Van Lustbader has been continuing Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne series for more than 10 years. Like fanfic, these books use existing characters to create new plots. Crucially, these works have been "officially sanctioned" by someone - the family of the original author [Christie] or the production company which owns the rights [Fleming], for instance. The average fanfic writer does not have the blessing of the author and has to worry about possible copyright violations, if an author objects to their writing.

Under the Copyright Act of 1976, a copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce, adapt, distribute, perform and display their work. Any person who infringes upon the right of a copyright owner without their permission has violated someone else’s copyright. If a writer of fan fiction is sued for infringement the writer can make an argument of fair use. Under fair use, there is a four factor test that the courts apply: 1) the purpose and character of the use (commercial in nature or nonprofit educational purposes), 2) the nature of the copyrighted work, 3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work, and 4) the effect of the use on the potential market of the copyrighted work.*

It's perhaps inevitable that, in a world where we try to value creativity and the opinions of others and almost everyone can be nanofamous due to the democratization of information via social media, fanfic would become increasingly accessible and popular. Whatever it transforms to in future permutations, seems like it's here to stay.

Interested in learning about fanfic?  Try reading the two non-fiction books in the catalog which reference it, or Rainbow Rowell's novel about a young fanfic writer:

Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World by Anne Jamison

Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, Copyright, and the Future of the Future by Cory Doctorow [contains the essay "In Praise of Fanfic"]

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Or, you can find a plethora of fanfic online. There is fanfic for almost every taste!  To name a few: Orange is the New Black; Sherlock; fashion fanfic on MTV Style; The X-Files; Edgar Allan Poe; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; The Devil Wears Prada; The Hulk; The Great Gatsby; Scandal; Doctor Who mashed with Blackadder; Doctor Who mashed with Downton Abbey; even Peter Rabbit. Some of the biggest purveyors of fanfic are:

Archive of Our Own

FanFiction

Wattpad

Kindle Worlds 

[Please note: content on fanfic sites varies in theme and maturity levels. FanFiction.net rates content M if it is for readers 18+.]

How do you feel about fanfic? Do you read fanfiction?  Do you write fanfiction?


Links

 It's a Fan-Made World [Vulture]

The Lost History of Fifty Shades of Grey [GalleyCat]

What is Fanfiction? A Primer to Get You Up to Speed Reading and Writing in the Vast Community [Bustle - Please note, article contains some suggestive images]

'Shipping' and the Enduring Appeal of Rooting For Love [The Atlantic]

Pop Culture Happy Hour, Small Batch: The Rise of Fan Fiction [NPR]

Organization for Transformative Works
The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is a nonprofit organization established by fans to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms. We believe that fanworks are transformative and that transformative works are legitimate. [from their website]

Professional Author Fanfic Policies [Fanlore]

Fan Fiction and Copyright Law [University of San Francisco School of Law]*

Copyright Laws and Fan Fiction [academia.edu]

 

Featured Author: Jennifer Potter

Author Jennifer Potter is primarily known as a horticultural historian, although she has written fiction. Perhaps her most famous work is Strange Blooms, a dual biography of the John Tradescants, the elder and younger, who were botanists, naturalists, and gardeners between 1570-1660. She is also a Royal Literary Fund Consultant Fellow - the RLF is a British charity which promotes and supports writers - and tutors higher education students in "enhancing their writing practices." Her horticultural microhistories have been called "expert" and "all-encompassing but precisely focused" [Booklist] with "readable style and interesting stories." [Choice Reviews] Just in time for spring, revisit some of your favorite flowers!

Seven Flowers and How They Shaped Our World

Drawing on sources both ancient and modern, and featuring lush full-color illustrations and gorgeous line art throughout, Potter examines our changing relationship with these potent plants and the effects they had on civilizations through the ages. The opium poppy, for example, returned to haunt its progenitors in the West, becoming the source of an enormously profitable drug trade in Asia. In the seventeenth century, the irrational exuberance of the Dutch for rare tulips led to a nationwide financial collapse. Potter also explores how different cultures came to view the same flowers in totally different lights. While Confucius saw virtue and modesty in his native orchids, the ancient Greeks saw only lust and sex. In the eye of each beholder, these are flowers of life and death; of purity and passion; of greed, envy and virtue; of hope and consolation; of the beauty that drives men wild. All seven demonstrate the enduring ability of flowers to speak metaphorically--if we could only decode what they have to say. ~from the library catalog

The Rose: A True History

Ever since Sappho planted roses at the shrine of Aphrodite, no flower has captured the imagination in quite the same way. Here, the acclaimed horticultural historian Jennifer Potter sets out on a quest to uncover the life of a flower that has been viewed so heterogeneously by different cultures in different countries across the centuries. Beginning her story in the Greek and Roman empires, she travels across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas to unravel its evolution from a simple briar of the northern hemisphere to the height of cultivated perfection found in rose gardens today. Whether laying bare the flower's long association with sexuality and secret societies, questioning the Crusaders' role in bringing roses back from the Holy Land, or hunting for its elusive blooms in the gardens of the Empress Josephine at Malmaison, Jennifer Potter reveals why this flower, above all others, has provoked such fascination.~from Google Books

Secret Gardens 

From the sacred groves of Ancient Greece, to the secluded outside rooms of Sissinghurst, this work is a history of secret gardens. A wide variety of secret gardens is explored, from intimate retreats to treehouses, caves and grottoes. Five case studies demonstrate how design principles can be turned into reality. Practical advice, from planting to the skilful use of water and ornaments, aim to help the reader realize the potential of their own garden. A comprehensive plant directory is included. ~from Google Books


Want to learn more about horticultural history? You might also enjoy: The Tulip by Anna Pavord; Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart; My Favorite Plant: Writers and Gardeners on the Plants They Love edited by Jamaica Kincaid; Weeds: In Defense of Nature's Most Unloved Plants by Richard Mabey; Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children's Tales by Marta McDowell; and The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean.

Are you a gardener? Have you visited our Seed Library?

Fairy Tales Revisited

© Adam Cuerden (restoration)

There's a new live-action version of Cinderella in the theaters, and while it follows pretty closely the classic story by Charles Perrault and the 1950 animation version by Walt Disney (rather than the darker version written by the Brothers Grimm), we thought it might be a good time to revisit the latest not-so-classic retellings of fairy tales, fables, and the like.

We are also very excited to share newly discovered fairy tales by Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth, a volume which, according to the publisher, makes "the holy trinity of fairy tales, the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen, become a quartet...bring[ing] us closer than ever to the unadorned oral tradition in which fairy tales are rooted, revolutionizing our understanding of a hallowed genre". Schonwerth's works had been lost until recently and are available for the first time in English.

If you'd prefer the original fairy tales, consider checking out: The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm; The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen edited by Maria Tatar; The Complete Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault, newly translated by Neil Philip and Nicoletta Simborowski; or Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale by Marina Warner.

For older readers (teen +)

The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales by Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth
 Dearest by Alethea Kontis  Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer  Stepmothers and the Big Bad Wolf: Fairy Tale Villains Reimagined by Susan Bianculli [eBook] Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Macke [eBook] Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth The Stepsister's Tale by Tracy Barrett Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen       The Witch: And Other Tales Re-Told by Jean Thompson   Marvel Fairy Tales by C.B. Cebulski   For Children  The Bernadette Watts Collection: Stories and Fairy Tales by Bernadette Watts   Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel by Megan Morrison  A Catfish Tale: A Bayou Story of the Fisherman and His Wife by Whitney Stewart   Hansel & Gretel: A Toon Graphic by Neil Gaiman, Lorenzo Mattotti Puss & Boots by Ayano Imai Beauty and the Beast: A Retelling by H. Chuku Lee     

National Poetry Month: Literary Spotify

Welcome to National Poetry Month 2015, celebrated every April by poetry lovers and the Academy of American Poets since 1996.  How will you be celebrating?  Poets.org recommends 30 ways to celebrate, including: #9, Learn more about poets and poetry events in your state (Poetry & Hip Hop with Keshet Dance Company, anyone?); # 15, Chalk a poem on the sidewalk; and # 27, Watch a poetry movie (not on their list but in the library catalog: Black Butterflies).

You can also celebrate Poem In Your Pocket Day, which is Thursday, April 30th. "Every April, on Poem in Your Pocket Day, people throughout the United States celebrate by selecting a poem, carrying it with them, and sharing it with others throughout the day as schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, and other venues ring loud with open readings of poems from pockets." Don't have a poem for your pocket?  Poets.org features many downloadable poems, or you could sign up for their Poem-A-Day.

One of the ways you might not have thought to celebrate poetry is to listen to poetry being read on Spotify! Spotify, as part of their Browse feature, has listed under Genres and Moods a section called Word. Word compiles playlists like "Short Stories", "Guided Meditation", "Learn Spanish", "Mythologies", "Self Help Gems", "Vintage Radio Dramas", and "Once Upon a Time". Also included are playlists like "Love Poems", "A Hipster's Guide to Poetry", "Modern Poetry", and "Langston Hughes In His Own Words". These make a great jumping off point to explore poetry - including poems read by the poets themselves, going all the way back to Walt Whitman - which is often most enjoyable when read aloud.  Alternately, you can also search Spotify using the keywords "poetry" or "poems" to find more.

If you have Spotify, check out our "Literary Spotify" list and celebrate National Poetry Month with poetry readings by poets (including local poets like Jimmy Santiago Baca) and more! You can also find audiobooks of poetry in the library catalog.



Links

Poets.org: National Poetry Month

Sweet Literary Tracks on Spotify [Book Riot]