KU students join Lawrence library's April 2 Langston Hughes poetry fest

LAWRENCE -- At least three University of Kansas students will join Lawrence community residents and KU faculty in observing National Langston Hughes Poetry Day, Tuesday, April 2.

The KU students and others from the Lawrence area will read a Langston Hughes poem almost every hour from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, at the Lawrence Public Library, according to Sandra Wiechert, community relations coordinator for the library.

Maryemma Graham, KU professor of English, will begin the reading at 9 a.m. Graham co-directs the Langston Hughes National Poetry Project, based at KU. She also directed an international symposium at KU celebrating Langston Hughes in February. Some of her students and former students will also read Tuesday: Justin Marable, fine arts sophomore from Robinson; Erin S. Maike, liberal arts and sciences sophomore from Alma; Channing M. Koonce, linguistics major from Greensboro, N.C.; and Kimberly S. Thompson, journalism senior from Springfield, Mo.

KU partnered with the Academy of American Poets and the National Council of Teachers of English to sponsor the national Langston Hughes Poetry Day. Born Feb. 1, 1901, Hughes lived in Kansas during his childhood, much of the time with his grandmother in Lawrence. He died in 1967 in Harlem.

Marable and Graham said they have not selected the poems they plan to read. They will be joined by people across the nation who are setting aside time on April 2 to read and discuss poetry by Langston Hughes.

Anyone interested in joining the poetry reading fest at the Lawrence Public Library should contact Wiechert or Maria Butler, assistant to the director, at the Lawrence Public Library, (785) 843-1178.

The Academy of American Poets Web site, www.poets.org, includes the Langston Hughes Centenary Exhibit as well as resources for groups planning to read and discuss Hughes' poetry. The resources include a reading group guide developed for KU's Feb. 7-10 Hughes symposium.

The Langston Hughes National Poetry Project was established last summer with a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. The grant supports a Web page, www.kuce.org/hughes, for the February symposium and other outreach efforts to encourage poetry reading. The project provided the structure for a model project in Kansas funded this fall by the Kansas Endowment for the Humanities.

The list of guest readers at Lawrence Public Library includes:

9 a.m. Maryemma Graham (Click here to hear Graham read "The Negro Speaks of Rivers.")

9:30 a.m. The Rev. Paul Winn, Praise Temple Church of God in Christ, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"

10 a.m. Katie Armitage, Lawrence area historian, Hughes children's poems

11:30 a.m. Tasmin Mills, library staff member

noon Bruce Flanders, Lawrence Public Library director

12:30 p.m. Marsha Goff, newspaper columnist

1 p.m. Kevin Willmott, KU assistant professor of theatre and film

1:30 p.m. Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Lawrence poet

2 p.m. The Rev. Leo Barbee, Victory Bible Church, "A Dream Deferred"

2:30 p.m. Myron Melton, Langston Hughes Elementary School principal

3 p.m. Tim Van Leer, Lied Center director

4 p.m. The Rev. Rene Brown, Ninth Street Baptist Church

3:30 p.m. Jane Johnston, library staff member

5 p.m. Ann Evans, Lawrence Art Center director

5:30 p.m. Rita Cosby, outreach coordinator, Ninth Street Baptist Church, poems by Madame Alberta K. Johnson

6 p.m. Justin Marable, KU sophomore from Robinson (Brown County)

6:30 p.m. Channing M. Koonce, KU junior from Greensboro, N.C., and Erin S. Maike, sophomore from Alma (Wabaunsee County)

7 p.m. Jeannette Shawl, library staff member

7:30 p.m. Kimberly S. Thompson, Springfield, Mo.

8:30 p.m. Kansas State Rep. Barbara Ballard, KU associate vice chancellor for student affairs, and/or Albert Ballard