Spring holiday closure

The library will be closed on Sunday, April 5. We're open regular hours on Friday, April 3 and Saturday, April 4. 

Celebrate National Poetry Month with the Town of Chapel Hill

April is Poetry Month

Celebrate National Poetry Month at the library with the help of Chapel Hill Community Arts & Culture and the Town of Chapel Hill Poet Laureate Dr. Donovan Livingston!

This April is full of opportunities to engage with poetry: events for all ages, a magnet poetry creation station, poetry prompts, recommendations and poetry content with Donovan Livingston on Instagram (follow Chapel Hill Public Library and Community Arts & Culture!)

Poetry month events for all ages

Bring Your Own Book Club – Poetry Edition
April 8 | 6:30pm | Chapel Hill Public Library, Room A | Ages 18+ | Free, registration encouraged

Join a community of fellow readers on the second Wednesday of each month for Bring Your Own Book Club. We’ll get together to chat about books on a monthly theme. This month: poetry! Bring a favorite and join us to discuss.

Pizza & Poetics
April 23 | 5pm | Chapel Hill Public Library, Room C | Ages 13-18 | Free, registration encouraged

Calling all teen poets! Share your poetry—whether it’s finished or a work in progress—in a creative, supportive space. Enjoy pizza, connect with fellow poets, and get inspired!

the poet is a verb
April 30 | 6pm | Chapel Hill Public Library, Room B | All Ages | Free

Chapel Hill Poet Laureate Dr. Donovan Livingston invites you to the fourth annual installment of “the poet is a verb,” featuring a showcase of Triangle-area poets followed by a community open mic.

Recommended reading

Get to know Donovan

Donovan Livingston (he/him) is an award-winning educator, spoken word poet, and public speaker. In 2016, his Harvard Graduate School of Education convocation address, “Lift Off,” went viral, reaching over thirteen million views and prompting Hillary Clinton to praise, “It’s young graduates like [Livingston] who make it clear that America’s best days are still ahead.” Since his pivotal speech, Livingston has been featured on CNN, NPR, BBC, Good Morning America, and in news outlets across Europe, Australia, India, and South Africa. His convocation address was published as a book by Spiegel & Grau in 2017.

A believer in the enormous opportunities that education provides, Donovan Livingston inspires students, educators, and communities with his conviction that every child has the right to “lift off” and achieve their dreams. Drawing on personal experiences as well as scholarship, Livingston examines the role of culture, hip-hop and spoken word poetry in student experiences in higher and postsecondary education. More specifically, Dr. Livingston is interested in understanding how poetics – rooted in Black lyrical and oral traditions – serve as a catalyst for student success and systemic change in colleges and universities. Livingston’s areas of expertise include educational leadership, critical hip-hop pedagogy, and hip-hop-based qualitative research methodologies. In his role at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Livingston manages the design, implementation, and evaluation of the university’s new general education course requirement for all first-year students. With a dual appointment in the Department of Music, Dr. Livingston also teaches courses on hip-hop history, culture, and composition.

Dr. Livingston has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, master’s degrees from Columbia University and Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Educational Leadership & Cultural Foundations. Currently, he serves as Teaching Assistant Professor of Music and Director of College Thriving at UNC Chapel Hill.

Click here for new music, poetry, events, and select publications.