Hi everyone,

This weekend my guest columnist on Poetry from Daily Life is Lesléa Newman, who lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Lesléa began writing sixty years ago. When asked about her favorite target audience, she replied, “I write for all ages in hopes of connecting with the humanity and kindness in all of us.”

Her many awards for her more than 80 books include a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, two National Jewish Book Awards and two American Library Association Stonewall Honors. Her column will appear in print on Saturday, May 18 and online on Sunday, May 19. On Sunday I’ll post a link so everyone everywhere can take advantage of his wisdom about poetry. Thank you for joining the conversation, Lesléa!

This week’s
guest on “Poetry from Daily Life” is Lesléa Newman, who lives in Holyoke,
Massachusetts. Lesléa began writing sixty years ago. When asked about her
favorite target audience, she replied, “I write for all ages in hopes of
connecting with the humanity and kindness in all of us.”  Two books she especially
enjoyed working on were The Babka Sisters (Esther lives with her cat
Lester; Hester lives with her dog Chester; babka is a Jewish treat part cake
and part bread), and Always Matt: A Tribute to Matthew Shepard (about the
life and legacy of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who was
killed in 1998 for being gay). A fun fact about Lesléa: she has a green belt in
Shurin Ryu Karate! ~ David L. Harrison