Padma Venkatraman 8/7/24 Padma Venkatraman 8/7/24

Palestinian Voices: Poems and Poetry Resources

Palestinian Voices: Poems, Poets and Poetry Resources

Margarita Engle 11/15/23 Margarita Engle 11/15/23

Wild Dreamers and A STEAM poem

Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics Poem by Margarita Engle

Aida Salazar 10/6/22 Aida Salazar 10/6/22

A Seed In the Sun: Planting and Growing the Verse Novel

Aida Salazar reflects on her process and the challenge of writing A SEED IN THE SUN which releases this October

Valerie Bolling 9/8/22 Valerie Bolling 9/8/22

Writing Rhyming Picture Books

Valerie Bolling reflects on the process of writing rhyming picture books

Diverse Verse 6/23/22 Diverse Verse 6/23/22

GIVING VOICE TO THE VOICELESS:

Leslea Newman reflects on the process of writing October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard

Padma Venkatraman 12/2/21 Padma Venkatraman 12/2/21

Filling Winter With Poetic Warmth

Aida Salazar 11/25/21 Aida Salazar 11/25/21

In the Spirit of a Dream: Writing Biographies in Free Verse as Artivism

When asked to join illustrator, Alina Chau, on her unique biography collection, IN THE SPIRIT OF A DREAM: 13 Stories of American Immigrants of Color*, I was immensely honored.

Edna Cabcabin Moran 11/11/21 Edna Cabcabin Moran 11/11/21

Haiku: Meant to be seen, not counted out

This week or month, in an American city or town, a classroom full of students will relegate their experience of haiku to syllable-counting…

Anindita Basu Sempere 10/14/21 Anindita Basu Sempere 10/14/21

Poetry prompt: Reclaiming language

Aida Salazar 9/9/21 Aida Salazar 9/9/21

Writing From The Heart

Saranyan Vigraham 7/15/21 Saranyan Vigraham 7/15/21

Sense-making through poetry

From May 5, 2020 to June 26, 2020, I wrote poems against news articles. Every day, I wrote at least one poem. I religiously sat under an old Elderberry tree in our backyard, reading news about what was happening in America, and in the world. Then I spent hours writing one poem from the articles I read. I wrote about murders, freedom marches, pandemic where doctors and patients discussed death over Zoom, data leaks, a corrupt political administration attacking transgender rights, and many more.

Anindita Basu Sempere 7/1/21 Anindita Basu Sempere 7/1/21

Poetry as Resistance

During difficult times, especially during periods of social or political upheaval, we often ask: What is the role of the artist?

Padma Venkatraman 5/6/21 Padma Venkatraman 5/6/21

Poetry speaking out against hate

Here are a few social media posts from #DiverseVerse launch day, highlighting poems or poetry resources that educators may use as a starting point to engage in nuanced discussions to help fight hate and hate crimes

Padma Venkatraman 4/19/21 Padma Venkatraman 4/19/21

What does respectful amplification mean?

This is going to be a super short blog post. Respectful amplification of a BIPOC poet’s voice, to me, may include…

Padma Venkatraman 4/13/21 Padma Venkatraman 4/13/21

How Diverse Verse Came About

Last year, when the pandemic broke out, I was solo parenting… so I had a bit of time to do bit of “soul searching” … and I thought about how, in the field of literature, there is so little one can control in terms of career.

Padma Venkatraman 3/29/21 Padma Venkatraman 3/29/21

#DiverseVerse and #AuthorsTakeAction Event

The past year has, for us, been one in which we've witnessed so much hate; and yet also one that challenged us to keep hoping.