Enoch Pratt Free Library Podcast

Poet, professor, lecturer on black culture and literature, women's liberation, peace and racial justice, Sonia Sanchez is the author of more than 18 books. These include: Homecoming; Wounded in the House of a Friend; Shake Loose My Skin; and Morning Haiku. She has won numerous awards including a 1985 American Book Award for Homegirls and Handgrenades and the Langston Hughes Poetry Award for 1999.

Sonia Sanchez has lectured at more than 500 universities and colleges in the United States and has traveled extensively, reading her poetry from Africa to Europe to Australia. She was the first Presidential Fellow at Temple University where she also held the Laura Carnell Chair in English. In December, 2011, Sonia Sanchez was selected as Philadelphia's first Poet Laureate.

Tony Medina, two-time winner of The Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, is the author/editor of 16 books for adults and young readers, the most recent of which are I and I, Bob Marley; My Old Man Was Always on the Lam (2011 Paterson Poetry Prize finalist); Broke on Ice; An Onion of Wars; and The President Looks Like Me and Other Poems. He divides his time between his New York City hometown and the Washington, DC, metropolitan area where he is the first-ever Professor of Creative Writing at Howard University.

Recorded On: Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Record unemployment and rampant corporate greed, empty houses but homeless families, dwindling opportunities in a paralyzed nation -- these are the realities of America, land of the free and home of the new middle-class poor.

In The Rich and the Rest of Us, award-winning broadcaster Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West, one of the nation's leading public intellectuals, take on the "p" word -- poverty. They challenge all Americans to re-examine their assumptions about poverty in America -- what it really is and how to eradicate it.

Recorded On: Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Best remembered for his landscape architecture, from New York's Central Park to Boston's Emerald Necklace to Stanford University's campus, Olmsted was also a Civil War hero, fervent abolitionist, crusading journalist, and an early voice for the environment. Most of all, he was a social reformer. He didn't simply create places that were beautiful in the abstract. An awesome and timeless intent stands behind Olmsted's designs, allowing his work to survive to the present day.

Justin Martin is a former staff writer for Fortune magazine and the author of Greenspan: The Man Behind Money and Nader: Crusader, Spoiler, Icon.

Recorded On: Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Session Three
Reading and writing poems that borrow their form and/or subject areas from other countries, including non-Western countries: (from Japan, haiku; from France, villanelles; from Italy, sestinas; from Malaysia, pantoums; from Persia, ghazals). 

The Instructor: Clarinda Harriss is a professor emerita of English at Towson University whose poems and short fiction are widely anthologized. Her most recent books are Air Travel, Mortmain, and Dirty Blue Voice. 
 

Recorded On: Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Session Two
Reading and discussing blank verse, a la Shakespeare (and many contemporary poets); reading and writing sonnets (sure, sonnets have been around since the Renaissance, but they're still alive and kicking); then bending the standard blank verse or sonnet "rules" when you write YOUR poem. 

The Instructor: Clarinda Harriss is a professor emerita of English at Towson University whose poems and short fiction are widely anthologized. Her most recent books are Air Travel, Mortmain, and Dirty Blue Voice. 
 

Recorded On: Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Session One
Reading and writing poems that make strong use of sounds to carry the meaning: luscious-, funny-, or ugly-sounding words; rhythms that tell the tale; echoes (rhyme, repetition). 

The Instructor: Clarinda Harriss is a professor emerita of English at Towson University whose poems and short fiction are widely anthologized. Her most recent books are Air Travel, Mortmain, and Dirty Blue Voice. 
 

Recorded On: Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Recorded On: Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Navigating the 1940 Census, an examination of the 1940 count, will introduce users to the data that will be released on April 2, 2012.

Thomas MacEntee brings his considerable knowledge and experiences to Baltimore for the first time. He is a professional genealogist who specializes in the use of social media and technology in family history research and is the creator of GeneaBloggers.com and High-Definition Genealogy. A Chicago resident, he is frequently featured at genealogy conferences and workshops across the U.S.

Recorded On: Saturday, March 31, 2012

Justin Jones-Fosu's book, Finding Your Glasses: Revealing and Achieving Authentic Success, is a practical guide to help you find your prescription for success in life. Find out if you are really living your life according to your core values and not by society's definition of success. Pursue what really matters to you as you join the journey of "finding your glasses."

Justin Jones-Fosu is president of Justin Inspires International and the author of Inspiration for Life. He hosts a weekly radio show, "Listen UP with Justin Jones-Fosu," on WEAA 88.9FM. In 2008 he was named one of "30 Young Leaders Under 30 On the Rise" by Ebony magazine.

Recorded On: Thursday, March 29, 2012

In her new book, Fran Allen McKinney shares the inspirational, encouraging, and motivating sayings she has authored and collected over the years. "Life comes at you from every angle, with any issue, for no reason, without regard for order or organization," she writes. "Expecting the best and preparing for the worst will keep you in a proactive posture and will be good for your health."

A native of Omaha, Nebraska, McKinney served nearly eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps. She eared a Bachelor's degree in business from Johns Hopkins University and now serves as District Director of Congressman Elijah E. Cummings. She is president and CEO of Self Development Success (SDS), providing services for leadership coaching and nonprofit fundraising.

Recorded On: Wednesday, March 28, 2012