Finding a Poet

As it is called Poetry and Pizza, we decided our first speaker should definitely be a poet, although later events will feature authors of a variety of work. It was hard to figure out how to find a poet. After some brainstorming I came up with a variety of ways to locate local poets and authors though. I started by doing the following:

• Go to http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/statecouncils.html. This will help you find your local humanities council. They usually have a few different events going on and will often know many locals who are active in the humanities.
• Do a search for local bookstores, coffeehouses or other places that hold regular readings or open mic nights. Think about going to a couple of these events you can talk to the authors and poets. Even if the one doing the reading isn't quite right for your library, they can suggest and help you contact someone who is.
• Contact some of the local schools. This is how I initially heard about our first reader. English departments usually have reading series, or at the very least know about ones going on in the community.
• Don't forget about local libraries! Stop in to say hello and ask them if they do readings. If so, do they have any tips?