Colorado’s Poet Laureate Presents Readings and Workshops (Steamboat Springs)

Mary Crow, Colorado’s poet laureate and English professor at Colorado State University, will present poetry readings, workshops and a public forum in Steamboat Springs March 18-19.

Crow, who was named Colorado’s poet laureate in October 1996, will present the two-day program, called "Words on the Wing: Making Poetry Visible in Steamboat Springs." Events are tailored to reach educational professionals, school children, community libraries and arts and humanities communities.

Crow’s presentations are designed to increase the availability of poetry to local audiences, encourage the innovative teaching of poetry in schools and demonstrate how reading and writing poetry can enhance literacy.

Program events will begin with a poetry writing workshop for students from 1-2:30 p.m. March 18 at Steamboat Springs Middle School. That evening, Crow will present a poetry reading and facilitate a discussion from 7-8:30 p.m. in Room 204 Bristol Hall on the Colorado Mountain College campus. The reading will include poetry for all ages and is open to the public.

A public forum and brown bag luncheon will be held from noon-2 p.m. March 19 at the Depot in the Steamboat Arts Council Center. Crow’s talk will focus on enhancing the visibility of poetry locally. It will include discussion of needs in Steamboat Springs and methods which could be used to start local poetry projects.

"One of the premises of this forum is that poetry is a basic part of our human nature and its inborn creativity," Crow said. "Poetry is an essential element of culture which should be available as part of a community’s cultural life."

Events will conclude March 19 with a teacher workshop from 4-5:30 p.m. at Soda Creek Elementary School Media Center. The workshop will include a discussion of effective and innovative teaching of poetry, hands-on practice of exercises and a discussion of poems suitable for school use.

Crow, who has read poetry throughout the country, was selected as Colorado’s poet laureate on the basis of artistic excellence, service in the advancement of poetry and interest in presenting poetry and literature to Colorado and the nation. Her books of poetry include I Have Tasted the Apple, Borders, The Business of Literature, and Going Home.

The Steamboat Springs program is the first part of a series which Crow will present in five communities around the state. Other program sites will include Pueblo, Denver, Gunnison and Greeley.

The program was made possible by grants from the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities and the College of Liberal Arts at Colorado State University.

For more information about grants from the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities, write to the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities at 1623 Blake, Denver, Colo., 80202.

For more information about the program, call Lisa Smith in the English department at (970) 491-6843 or Susan de Wardt, event coordinator in Steamboat Springs, at (970) 879-8138.