Thursday, February 28, 2013

What's New with Poetry State?

Two weeks from today, the Tavern Books team will take a road trip to Grand Ronde, Oregon to accept a generous grant from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund. With the grant, we'll be launching a new phase of Poetry State, our book donation drive for Oregon libraries.

Last year, we had the pleasure of donating over 2,500 poetry titles to libraries serving rural and Tribal populations across Oregon, as well as to innovative local book lending services like the Multnomah County Library Jails Program, the Multnomah County Shelter Program, and Street Books. In some cases, we've been able to double the number of poetry titles on their shelves! But because we don't have control over the contents of our stock (all books are given to us by publishing companies, book stores, and an incredible pool of individuals), we haven't yet been able to take requests for specific titles. We were inspired to start purchasing book stock after consistently receiving requests from librarians and program directors for a wide range of material: everything from anthologies of Native American spiritual poetry to foreign language and bilingual works to the collected works of poets like Lucille Clifton, Jack Prelutsky, and Emily Dickinson.

Now, for the first time since Poetry State's inception, we'll be able to purchase brand new, customized poetry collections for 12 of our partner libraries based on the specific requests of librarians and patrons. We couldn't be more excited, and we're grateful to the Spirit Mountain Community Fund and all Tavern Books supporters for helping us to make it happen! Check back often for ongoing updates on this new phase of Poetry State and for profiles of our partner libraries.