Library staff’s Poetry to Read for National Poetry Month 2024
Thursday, April 4, 5:30pm-7pm
CREATIVITEA OPEN MIC
Presented by Stir Fry Stories and Chopsticks Alley
CZI Community Space
801 Jefferson Avenue Redwood City
A multidisciplinary showcase for Asian American Pacific Islander musicians, singers, writers, poets/spoken word artists, and visual artists who live and/or work in San Mateo County - from high schoolers to elders, from seasoned creatives to first-timers looking for a low-key stage to share your art in community. With featured poet Aileen Cassinetto.
Friday, April 12, 6pm-7pm PDT
YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH CONCERT WITH POETRY
San Mateo Public Library, Oak Room
55 W 3rd Ave, San Mateo
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
A project by San Mateo County Youth Cultural Ambassadors Mikaela George & Keiya Wada. Sponsored by the San Mateo Public Library, San Mateo County Office of Arts and Culture, Dragonfly Community Arts.
*The San Mateo County Youth Cultural Ambassadors Program aims to build community and foster a love of arts as a vehicle for self-expression and civic engagement among young people in San Mateo County. It was launched by the San Mateo County Office of Arts and Culture in 2023, and directed by San Mateo County Poet Laureate Emerita Aileen Cassinetto. https://www.smcgov.org/ceo/youth-cultural-ambassadors-program
Saturday, April 13
San Mateo Celebrates! (April 7-13)
San Mateo Central Park, 50 E 5th Ave, San Mateo
San Mateo Downtown Library, 55 W 3rd Ave, San Mateo
April 13, 10am-4pm Downtown Festival, San Mateo Central Park (with Poetry by San Mateo County Poet Laureate Emerita Aileen Cassinetto at 3pm)
April 13, 6:30pm-9pm Night at the Library Benefit, San Mateo Public Library Main Branch
*San Mateo Celebrates! is a dynamic annual April celebration — strategically timed with National Library Week — that showcases and supports the richness of our Library's activities.
Monday, April 15
Deadline to submit entries to the 5th Annual Filoli Haiku Contest
This year, the contest theme is migration and belonging. We're looking for poems that muse on how beings create a sense of home – in gardens and the natural world, as well as in our own lives.
The special Ecopoetry Award will recognize a haiku that celebrates this theme while touching on the connection between humans and the environment.
*The 10 semi-finalist poems will be announced on the website on Earth Day, April 22.
All ten semi-finalists will have their poem printed and displayed throughout the Garden during the month of May!
Prize winners will be announced May 1.
Tuesday, April 16, 1-5:30pm PDT
DEAR HUMAN AT FUTURE'S EDGE: SCIENCE, CREATIVITY, AND CLIMATE FUTURES CONFERENCE
Banatao Auditorium & Kvamme Atrium
310 Sutardja Dai Hall
PANELS:
The Imagination of the Data, the Data in the Imagination; Decolonial Voices and Knowledge at Future’s Edge; American Poets Imagine the Edge of Time; Poetry Reading
PARTICIPANTS:
Bruce Riordan, Linda Rugg, Aileen Cassinetto, Alice Plane, Allyza Lustig, Anand Varman, Brian Sonia-Wallace, Claire Wahmanholm, Cecil Giscombe, Craig Santos Perez, David Hassler, John Shoptaw, Karen Llagas, Kim Shuck, Leke Hutchins, Luisa A. Igloria, Marisa Lin, Maw Shein Win, Sarah Vaughn, Shreya Chaudhuri, Tiff Dressen
Free & open to the public. Please register here.
Thursday, April 18, 6pm-7:30pm PDT
EARTH DAY PANEL: INNOVATORS CREATING SUSTAINABLE CITIES
Meeting Room, 4th Floor, Mechanics’ Institute
57 Post St., SF
Join Mechanics’ Institute in conversation on the future of sustainable communities with Bay Area environmental activists and innovators Quinlin Messenger, Lara Lebeiko, and Dustin Mulvaney, moderated by Karen Topakian. The panel will address new directions of alternative energy, design concepts and production, and resources for diverse communities. Challenging “doom and gloom” climate narratives, the speakers will offer alternative perspectives of hope, stewardship, and reciprocity with the land.
The event will feature a reading by San Mateo Poet Laureate Emeritus Aileen Cassinetto from Dear Human at the Edge of Time, the award-winning climate change anthology in response to the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5).
Attendees will have the opportunity to contribute poems to the Dear Human microsite and peruse an environmental book selection curated by the speakers.
Tuesday, April 23, 1-2:30pm PDT
EARTH WEEK CELEBRATING DEAR HUMAN
Skyline College Library, 2nd Floor, Bldg 5
Saturday, April 27, 1pm-2:30pm PDT
NATIONAL POETRY MONTH COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
Main Level, Burlingame Public Library
480 Primrose Rd, Burlingame
Hosted by Burlingame-Hillsborough Youth Poet Laureate/San Mateo County Youth Cultural Ambassador Lauren Lin. Sponsored by the Burlingame Public Library, Burlingame Library Foundation, San Mateo County Office of Arts and Culture, and Dragonfly Community Arts. Free & open to the public.
For more information, please visit the library's event page.
Monday, April 29, 6pm-7pm PDT
"NO POETRY NO PEACE"
A reading and celebration of human expression and peace
Mechanics' Institute (on Zoom)
Register here.
Tuesday, April 30, 11:45am-12:30pm PDT
DEAR HUMAN POETRY READING & WORKSHOP
Nueva High School, Writing & Research Center
San Mateo Campus
131 E. 28th Ave., San Mateo
Aileen Cassinetto 