Our state poet laureate, Crystal Wilkinson, has put out a call for fellow Kentuckians to get involved in this year’s Kentucky Writers’ Day – and you don’t have to be a professional writer or a published author to participate. Anyone who wants to say something through creative expression in a poem, essay or short story could have their writing featured.
People who live in Kentucky or have a connection to the state are invited to record a video, about one to two minutes long, of themselves reading their poem or story. Kentucky Writers’ Day is April 22, and you can read more about how to make a submission and upload your video here.
The deadline to upload your video is 3 p.m. Central Time on March 14.
Poetry Minutes
Also in April, WKMS will be observing National Poetry Month with a focus on the theme, There’s a Poem in This Place.
Listeners of the public radio station at Murray State University are invited to make audio recordings of their original poems to be considered for Poetry Minutes that will be broadcast on weekdays throughout April.
“With such a beautiful region with deep roots, inspiration can come from anywhere and poems can be of all types,” the station announced. “Especially in the aftermath of the disasters that impacted many communities last December, it feels even more meaningful to highlight our region’s places: what makes them home, our memories of the places we love and even what we hope to rebuild.”
Writing workshop
If you need some help to get started writing, award-winning poet Constance Alexander will host a free, virtual writing workshop from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5. You can join with this Zoom link.
Alexander is a Hoptown Chronicle board member and a longtime collaborator with WKMS. The station and Hoptown Chronicle are partners through a content-sharing agreement.
It would be great to hear some Hopkinsville people on WKMS’ Poetry Minutes and on the Kentucky Writers’ Day videos. Let me know if you participate, and think about taking Alexander’s workshop. I plan to join her for the Zoom session.
(This story was updated to correct the time for the virtual writing workshop.)
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
