CGCC Library Celebrates National Poetry Month: About Poetry

The 2025 poster features an excerpt from “Gate A-4”, a poem by former Young People’s Poet Laureate and Academy Chancellor Naomi Shihab Nye, as well as artwork by New York Times-bestselling author and illustrator Christy Mandin. Mandin was selected by Scholastic—the global children’s publishing, education, and media company—to create the artwork for this year’s poster as part of a National Poetry Month collaboration with the Academy of American Poets.

About National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month is the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, bloggers, and, of course, poets marking poetry’s important place in our culture and our lives every April.

Inspired by the successful celebrations of Black History Month (February) and Women's History Month (March), the Academy of American Poets established National Poetry Month in 1996. Along the way, the organization enlisted a variety of government agencies and officials, educational leaders, publishers, sponsors, poets, and arts organizations to help. National Poetry Month is a registered trademark of the Academy of American Poets.

In coordination with poets, booksellers, librarians, and teachers, the Academy of American Poets chose a month when poetry could be celebrated with the highest level of participation. April seemed the best time within the year to turn attention toward the art of poetry, in an ultimate effort to encourage poetry readership year-round.

The goals of National Poetry Month are to:

• highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets
• encourage the reading of poems
• assist teachers in bringing poetry into their classrooms
• increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media
• encourage increased publication and distribution of poetry books, and 
• encourage support for poets and poetry.

Additional information is available at the Academy of American Poets.