Children's Poetry Festival to Open Registration for February Vacation Week

Westwood inaugural Poet Laureate Lynne Viti and Westwood Youth Poet Laureate Lucie Sechler have announced three days of free public programming during school vacation week, funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Westwood Public Library, which the local poets are presenting as a Children's Poetry Festival to be held from February 20th to February 22nd, at the Westwood Public Library.

The program is intended for children in second through fifth grades along with their caregivers, and includes poetry mini-workshops, writing poems for music, arts and crafts, and a chance to hear Presidential Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco on the last day of the festival. The acclaimed poet will read in English and Spanish from his children's poetry book, One Today. Blanco's presentation will include stories of his Miami childhood and a Q & A session, followed by a book signing.

Registration for separate events in the Children’s Poetry Festival will be available online beginning January 24, at the library events page, https://westwoodlibrary.libcal.com/calendar and by phone, (781) 326-7562. 

Raised in Miami by Cuban immigrant parents, Richard Blanco is the youngest poet and the first Latinx, immigrant and gay person to serve as Presidential Inaugural Poet. He participated in the U.S. presidential inauguration in January 2013, at the invitation of President Barack Obama. An associate professor of English at Florida International University, Blanco is familiar to Boston area radio listeners as a regular contributor to WGBH FM’s “Boston Public Radio” with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan.

Blanco is the Education Ambassador for The Academy of American Poets, an active member of The Center for Humanities in an Urban Environment and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. His poetry collections include: City of a Hundred Fires; Directions to The Beach of the Dead; Boundaries; Looking for The Gulf Motel; How to Love a Country; and the recently released Homeland of My Body: New and Selected Poems. He has also authored two memoirs, For All of Us, One Today and The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood.

Events on February 20th and February 21st will be led by Dr. Viti and Lucie Sechler, along with poet and children’s book author Nancy Ling, and Westwood High senior, musician Samantha “Sam” Schmitz. 

Thanks to Lynne Viti for sharing this news with Westwood Minute. 

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