Poet Jack Prelutsky Comes to Orcas

Jack Prelutsky, Children’s Poet Laureate, will be a familiar face on Orcas Island this week, thanks to cooperation among the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, the Public Library, Writer’s Roundtable and Darvill’s Bookstore.

Visits to Darvill’s Bookstore, Writer’s Roundtable and Performance at the Chamber Music Festival’s outdoor “Musical Carnival”

“There was a time when I couldn’t stand poetry,”  Children’s Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky says.

Yet after working as a truckdriver, photographer, folksinger, and more, he is now the author of more than thirty collections of original verse and anthologies of children’s poetry, including: Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face And Other Poems (2008); Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems (2006); The Beauty of the Beast: Poems from the Animal Kingdom (2006); The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (1983); Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep (1978), and The Queen of Eene (1976).

Meet Children’s Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky at a book signing at Darvill’s on Wednesday, August 15th from 1-2.

Or at the Writer’s Roundtable on Saturday, August 18 from 1-3 p.m. at the Library< for an informal conversation about his work. All are welcome!

Roudtable coordinator JoEllen Moldoff says, “This special opportunity coincides with the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival’s celebration of its 15th Anniversary with a free outdoor concert on the Village Green on Sunday, August 19.” The concert features pianists Orli Shaham and Jon Kimura Parker and Jack Prelutsky as special guest author and narrator performing Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals.

“Carnival of the Animals” on the Stage at the Village Green is organized — in partnership with the Miró Quartet, the Orcas Island Library District, Orcas Island School District, Orcas Island Senior Services, Orcas Island Public Library, Deer Harbor Community Club, West Sound Community Club, Olga Community Club, and Islands Symphonia — with support from the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.

Welcome to our carnival,
Where birds and beasts and such
Behave a lot like people do,
At times a bit too much.
Jack Perlutsky

Jack Prelutsky says, “I have always enjoyed playing with words, but I had no idea that I would be a writer. There was a time when I couldn’t stand poetry! In grade school, I had a teacher who left me with the impression that poetry was the literary equivalent of liver. I was told that it was good for me, but I wasn’t convinced.

When I was a young man, I discovered poetry again and it changed my life. I had spent months drawing several imaginary animals, but one evening I decided to write a little poem to go with each drawing. A friend encouraged me to show the poems to an editor, and when I did, I was astonished to find that the editor — Susan Hirschman — thought I had a talent for writing verse. Susan told me I was a natural poet and encouraged me to keep writing. She published my first book and, 30 years later, she’s still my editor.

(Biography from the Academy of American Poets)

In 1940, Jack Prelutsky was born in Brooklyn, and attended Hunter College in New York City. Although he claims to have hated poetry through most of his childhood, he rediscovered poetry later in life, and has devoted many years since to writing fresh, humorous poetry aimed specifically at kids.

“I realized poetry was a means of communication, that it could be as exciting or as boring as that person or that experience.”

In 2006, Prelutsky was named the first Children’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. He lives in Seattle, Washington, and spends much of his time presenting poems to children in schools and libraries throughout the United States.