Lesli Marchese, Campus Carrier Deputy News Editor
The Georgia Poetry Circuit (GPC), which is housed at Berry, is nearing the launch of a new program, the Georgia Poet’s Initiative.
The Georgia Poetry Circuit is a consortium of nine colleges and universities in Georgia that work together to bring three out-of-state poets a year to these schools to give readings.
The Georgia Poet’s Initiative is a program designed to connect Georgia poets with schools in Georgia.
“The GPC alone isn’t enough to get everywhere” said Sandra Meek, Dana professor of English, rhetoric and writing, and director of the Georgia Poetry Circuit since 2007.
“It’s a way to make available to schools in Georgia the poets who already live and work in Georgia,” said Nick Norwood, Columbus State University’s representative for the GPC. “It’s a database of poets who live in Georgia and would be willing to travel to other schools to give readings and do workshops.”
The Poet’s Initiative already has about 30 of Georgia’s best poets signed on, including Natasha Trethewey, the former poet laureate of the U.S., Judson Mitcham, the current poet laureate for the state of Georgia, David Bottoms, the former Georgian poet laureate and Thomas Lux, head of the poetry department at Georgia Tech.
“It will really expand the access to poetry for college students and communities,” Meek said. “Part of the requirement for an institution getting these poets is they have to agree the event will be free and open to the public.”
Poets who are a part of the initiative agree to do one reading a year at any Georgia institution, without charging a stipend. This means that schools without funding for readings will be able to offer at least one literary event to students.
“It’s kind of an outreach to the communities,” said Eric Nelson, Georgia Southern University’s representative for the GPC. “Especially communities that don’t have access to poetry and who maybe don’t have a budget to bring poets to their campus or their community to give readings.”
The idea first came to fruition through Meek, who wanted a way to spread poetry throughout the state of Georgia.
“Many colleges in Georgia have minimal or no funding for literary events,” Meek said. “The thought is to help those underserved institutions.”
The only requirement for poets to join the initiative is that they have one book published by an established press.
“I think another nice element [of the one book requirement] is the variety of poets is pretty wide,” Meek said. “At the very top [we have] the former poet laureate of the U.S. and other well-known poets such as Thomas Lux, but we also have younger poets so schools can make decisions about what might appeal to their audiences.”
The members of the GPC have high hopes for the program, and expect it to make poetry more accessible around the state.
“It’s a great idea and I’m certainly hoping to be able to go to some schools in Georgia to do some readings,” said Norwood, who is also a poet who has joined the initiative. “I fully intend to take advantage of it as someone who brings poets to my school for readings and workshops.”
The GPC expects to officially launch the Georgia Poet’s Initiative in October.