Here’s a potentially exciting development in the realm of poetry in Sonoma County classrooms: California Poets in the Schools, a statewide literary nonprofit, has relocated to Santa Rosa. (Source: Press Democrat, Aug. 2, 2018.)
I am most familiar with this organization through the Poetry Out Loud national recitation contest. CalPoets co-sponsors Poetry Out Loud, with the California Arts Council.
(As former newspaper arts editor and volunteer-producer of an Arts Council newsletter, I used to follow and report on Poetry Out Loud in Lake County, California.)
High-school students memorize and recite a famous poem, beginning at the school-wide level. Doing so helps them to “master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life,” according to the Poetry Out Loud website.
Local winners advance to regional/state competition and then to the national finals.
Within Sonoma County, according to the Press Democrat, “CalPoets reaches nearly 30 schools and 4,000 K-12 students, and within the state it reaches about 28,000 youth.
“With the move to Santa Rosa, CalPoets plans to extend its reach, with more poets in schools, more poetry booths at art festivals, and poetry in parks and parking lots.”
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