Borders to Host Month-Long Poetry Blast To Celebrate April's National Poetry Month
ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Poetry will definitely be in motion throughout April, as Borders Books, Music, Video and Cafe stores across America celebrate National Poetry Month with a dizzying event schedule including hundreds of in-store poetry readings, workshops, discussion groups, open microphone nights, and contests for all ages. In addition, Borders will make a significant corporate contribution to The Academy of American Poets, the organization which created National Poetry Month in 1996 and has received support from Borders since its inception.
From New York to Palo Alto and Ann Arbor to Orlando, Borders stores will be jumping literally every day in praise of poetry. The incredible event schedule includes these highlights:
* National Book Critics Circle Award winner Marie Ponsot, author of "The Bird Catcher," and Benjamin Ivry, author of "Paradise for the Portuguese Queen," will read at the New York Park Avenue Borders store on April 22.
* Nikki Giovanni will read from "Blues: For All The Changes," in the Borders Palo Alto store April 28.
* On April 30, Borders in San Francisco will host a reading by five contributors to "Women on a Wire," a poetry anthology which was born on the Internet. All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Coalition on Domestic Violence.
* Five Orlando-area Borders stores will join in presenting a "Beat Weekend" April 16-18 to benefit The Kerouac Project, raising funds to assist the Project in purchasing a house once owned by Jack Kerouac.
* The "Chicagoland Borders Poetry Contest" for middle and high school students will be sponsored throughout April in five suburban Chicago Borders stores.
* Brea, CA, will sponsor its fourth "Write Like Shakespeare" sonnet contest. "Bard of the Year," announced April 23, earns a $100 gift certificate.
* On April 14, the Borders store in Beechwood, Ohio, will present "Alternative Poetry and Music for the Third Millennium."
* A poetry scavenger hunt will be held throughout April in the Tukwila, WA, Borders store.
* Poems are placed throughout the store and shoppers are invited to identify the name and author of each.
* "Catch the Poetry Bug" -- Several Borders stores will receive a visit from the "Poetry Bug," a Volkswagen covered with magnetic poetry. Kids will be able to view the "Poetry Bug" outside stores in Santa Barbara, CA on April 3, Monroeville, PA on April 16, and Westlake, OH on April 19.
* Poetry slams and open mic nights for adults, teens and kids will be held in dozens of Borders locations from Buffalo to Houston to Seattle and many points in between, throughout the entire month.
Comprehensive poetry event information is available online at Borders.com (http://www.borders.com) and Borderstores.com (http://www.bordersstores.com).
In addition to the impressive lineup of poetry events, Borders will continue its commitment to hosting events to encourage participation in United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky's "Favorite Poem Project," an initiative to compile by the year 2000 an audio and video archive of Americans saying their favorite poems. And, the April issue of Borders' in-store magazine, "Inside Borders," will feature an original essay by Edward Hirsch and poems by Zbigniew Herbert, Ted Hughes, Philip Levine and Michael Ondaatje, as well as prose by Mary Oliver.
According to Bill Wadsworth, executive director of The Academy of American Poets, support from corporations such as Borders is vital. "In the current climate of arts funding," Wadsworth said, "It is essential that effective partnerships be formed between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations if the arts, and especially the literary arts, are to survive. In this respect, Borders is a model -- the most encouraging model possible -- for corporate support of literature."
About Borders
Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP), is a leading global retailer of books, music, video and other information and entertainment items with stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., Borders Group, Inc., is the parent company of Borders, Inc., which operates 250 Borders Books and Music stores in the United States, offering what is widely regarded as the broadest selection of books and multi-media titles available to consumers anywhere. It is also the parent of Borders.com, an electronic commerce site that has access to over 650,000 titles and over 10 million books, music and video items in stock and ready for immediate shipping from a state-of-the-art fulfillment and distribution center.
With cafe operations in nearly all of its stores, Borders, Inc., is one of the nation's largest specialty coffee retailers. Through Borders (UK) Limited, Borders Group, Inc., also operates 26 Books etc. and three Borders stores in the U.K. In addition, Borders Group, Inc., owns Walden Book Company, Inc., which has approximately 900 Waldenbooks stores in malls, shopping centers and airports across the country. Borders Group, Inc., trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "BGP." To learn more about our company, come see us at bordersgroupinc.com. For information on Borders stores, visit bordersstores.com. For the ultimate online book, music and video shopping experience, explore borders.com.
About The Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets was founded in 1934 to support American poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry. The largest organization in the country dedicated specifically to the art of poetry, the Academy sponsors programs nationally. In addition to National Poetry Month and poets.org, these include: the Academy Fellowship; the Tanning Prize; the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; the James Laughlin Award; the Walt Whitman Award; the Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Award; the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award; poetry prizes at nearly 160 colleges and universities; a national series of poetry readings and poets' residencies; and the American Poets Fund and the Atlas Fund, which provide financial assistance to poets and non-commercial publishers of poetry, respectively.
SOURCE Borders Group, Inc.
CO: Borders Group, Inc.; The Academy of American Poets
ST: Michigan
IN:
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04/01/99 05:20 EST prnewswire.com |
