Press Archive

Since the Poets Against the War web site first appeared on Thursday, January 30th, news stories have appeared in scores of newspapers/radio/TV, etc. nationally and internationally about PAW and the cancellation by the White House of Laura Bush's poetry tea party.

Reports from March 5th: Poets Against the War held an International Day of Poetry Against the War on Wednesday, March 5^th. Poets around the world scheduled over 120 readings and/or discussions of poetry and protest for that day, and poets presented copies of 13,000 poems to governments around the world, including in the US, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, and Mexico. First-hand reports from around the world...

New York Times ad on Monday, February 17 Poets Against the War purchased a 1/4 page ad on the Op Ed page of the National Edition of the Times. Download the ad.

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The following are audio clips from activities of Poets Against War

Poetry Reading in Oak Park, Illinois on March 5th
Audio (45 minutes, Real Player needed).

Poetry Reading at Unity Temple in Oak Park, IL. on May 1st
with Charlie Rossiter and others
Audio

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Following are a few links to stories about Poets Against War.

May 20. AlterNet: "Acts of Hope."

May 14. USA Today: "Two poetry collections follow unusual paths."

May 1. Pacifica Radio: "Poets Against the War."

April 28. New York Times: "Laureates Convene, Waxing Poetic."

April 23. Cincinnatti News Record: "Local Poets Speak Out to Support World Peace."

April 20. Contra Costa Times: "Poetry's In Motion."

April 9. Common Dreams: "British Poet Laureate attacks war in Iraq." (Published April 3.)

April 4. Fort Wayne News-Sentinel: "Poems for peace to take center stage in free program at Cinema Center."

March 31. NPR: Sam Hamill speaks on "Fresh Air"

March 31. Publisher's Weekly: "Nations of the Mind: Poetry, Publishing, and Public Debate."

March 31. The New York Times: "Poets Pit Pens Against Swords" (Published February 6.)

March 30. AP: "Conflicts and war often inspire heartfelt literature"

March 29. Miami Herald: "War and verse: We turn to poetry during times of crisis"

March 28. The Progressive: "Sam Hamill" — an in-depth interview.

March 20. PBS: "The Art of Protest" (Aired March 12.)

March 14. Slate.com: "Poetry and War, Again" by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinksy.

March 12. Seattle Times: "Word Warriors"

March 11. St. Petersburg Times (Florida): "Finding his muse for stanzas of war protest."

March 10. Arizona Republic: "ASU event for poets, war views."

March 9. Orlando Sentinel: "Pen vs. the sword"

"Poets Against the War, a Web site (poets againstthewar.org) [ . . . ] began as a quiet grumble by one poet and turned into a worldwide outcry of eloquent voices." [Article ran March 5th.]

March 9. The Age (Australia): "No rhyme or reason in war"

"Poets around the world have leapt to the forefront of the anti-war campaign."

March 8. Knox News (Tennessee): "Poets Speak Their Conscience"

"When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. John Kennedy said that."

March 7. The China Post (Taiwan), front page: "U.S. students, poets stage antiwar protests"

March 7. The Saratogian: "A nation founded on ideas should share ideas"

March 6. Islam Online (UK): "U.S. Poets Bring Thousands of Anti-War Poems to Congress"

March 6. Baltimore Sun: "Free Verse"

"The pen challenges the sword as some of America's finest poets take an anti-war message to Washington."

March 5. The Globe and Mail (Canada): "Poets worldwide protest war"

March 5. Washington Post: "Attacking a War With Poetry"

March 5. Rapid City Journal: "Anti-war protest to feature poetry reading"

March 5. Middle East Online (UK): "US poets stand up to Bush's war plans"

March 4. The Age (Australia): "Poet Murray takes an anti-war stanza"

"Australia's unofficial poet laureate, Les Murray, yesterday accused successive Australian governments of 'crawling in the dirt after America' . . . Murray's remarks are part of a war of words over Iraq being waged by poets around the world."

March 3. Common Dreams Newscenter: "Seeking Poetic Justice"

"A pacifist author who apparently ran afoul of the White House leads an online antiwar movement rooted in language and imagery."

March 3. Los Angeles Times (front page): "Using Online Poetry as a Weapon Against War."

"Sam Hamill, a pacifist author disinvited to the White House, is leading an online antiwar movement."

[Article requires free registration.]

February 28. Berkeley Voice: "Poets gather online, live, to post odes against war."

"Poets Against the War continues to facilitate the outcry of poets in various ways, through newspaper ads and the broadcast media, encouraging public readings and supporting the production of a documentary that chronicles a movement that has given rise to the largest chorus of poets in recent history."

February 27. Poets Against the War is named the Political Site of the Day.

February 26. The Nation: "Poetry Makes Nothing Happen? Ask Laura Bush," by Katha Pollitt.

"[The White House] did us an extraordinary favor," Hamill told me. "They revealed that there are many, many poets opposed to the Bush regime. And they demonstrated their fear of the carefully chosen word — their fear of poetry."

[This article was published in the February 24th issue of the Nation.]

February 26. NPR: "Poets Against War."

NPR's Tavis Smiley Show talks with regular commentator, Cornel West, about using poetry to oppose war.

February 25. London Times: "Echoes of past from web poets."

"The explosion of anti-war poetry on the internet is to appear in print as one of the fastest books ever published. More than 10,000 poets, including big names such as Adrian Mitchell and Sean O’Brien, have composed verses in response to what they see as the war-mongering rhetoric of Britain and the US." [NOTE: These poets are associated with the British website nthposition.com, not with Poets Against the War.]

February 19. The Nation: "Poets Against the War." Contributions by a handful of our Chapbook poets.

February 19. Village Voice: "Bards Not Bombs in NYC," by Joy Press:

Dozens of poets and novelists including Sharon Olds, former poet laureate Galway Kinnell, Paul Auster, and E.L. Doctorow sat in the front of a standing-room-only crowd. At the same hour, 38 blocks north on the steps of the New York Public Library, . . . Fanny Howe, Honor Moore, Victoria Redel, and an assortment of fellow poets took turns reading Middle Eastern poetry to a crowd huddling in the chill wind.

February 18. Publisher's Weekly: "'Resist Much, Obey Little': Vermont Poets Gather in Protest."

More than 700 people attended. . . . The event, called "A Poetry Reading in Honor of the Right of Protest as a Patriotic and Historical Tradition," featured an impressive array of Vermont poets, including Jay Parini, Jamaica Kincaid, David Budbill, Greg Delanty, Julia Alvarez and Jody Gladding, as well as former Vermont poet laureate Galway Kinnell and present Vermont poet laureate Grace Paley. National Book Award winner and SUNY Binghamton professor Ruth Stone, New Hampshire's Donald Hall and Copper Canyon Press co-founder William O'Daly, a resident of California, also joined the group.

February 18. Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Zen poet's voice of dissent heard by anti-war literati." A feature on Poets Against the War founder Sam Hamill:

Sam Hamill, a reclusive former Marine turned Zen Buddhist poet . . . triggered a nationwide artistic uprising when he declined a White House invitation to a literary symposium. That act of dissent continues to gain momentum.

February 17. CNN.com: "Poets to gather to protest war with Iraq."

Playwright Arthur Miller, rapper Mos Def and at least four former U.S. poets laureate, including Rita Dove and Stanley Kunitz, will be among the artists and performers appearing at "Poems Not Fit for the White House."
Hamill established a web site, www.poetsagainstthewar.org, which has gathered more than 12,000 poems from 9,000 poets in less than a month.

February 14. In These Times: "Poets Against the War"

The web site quickly ballooned with more than 5,000 poems (and counting), and more than 160 readings were speedily scheduled across the country for the 12th.

February 12. Poetry International: "National Day of Poetry Against the War."

February 12. La Jornada (Mexico): "Cinco mil escritores se unen a la protesta."

February 11. Oxfam and Hong Kong poets to hold reading.

February 9. Press Release - Readings in Washington DC, 2/12 (pdf)

February 6. Hartford Advocate: "Howl for America."

"Poetry is a very dangerous weapon in America these days, Mrs. Bush, and I would not want to be in your shoes."

February 1. Toronto Globe and Mail: "Laura's lament."

February 1. BBC News: "Protest fears scrap US poetry forum."

February 1. The Guardian: "Anti-war poets force scrapping of White House symposium."

February 1. USA Today: "White House cancels poetry symposium."

February 1. Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "Poets' anti-war views lead to symposium's cancellation."

February 1. Sydney Morning Herald: "The first casualty of war: poetry."

January 31. NY Times: "With Antiwar Poetry Set, Mrs. Bush Postpones Event."

January 31. Seattle Times: "Poetry slams into politics at White House."