Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Center for the Book is pleased to announce the latest release from the Penn State Press: Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania.  This collection of poems by 103 poets with connections to Pennsylvania is a virtual Baedeker to the heritage of Pennsylvania. Beginning in the southeastern part of the state with Philadelphians, "Dutch" writers and others, the book tours Pennsylvania region by region, ending in the northwestern section around Erie.  Small towns, middle-sized cities, as well as the two metropolitan areas of the Commonwealth, are well represented.  Editors Marjorie Maddox and Jerry Wemple have selected writers at the peak of their writing lives and those at the beginnings of their poetic careers.  Taken together the poems in this collection paint a vivid picture of the Keystone State.

We would also like to direct you to investigate the authors of these poems further.  Each of the poets featured in the anthology has been placed on the Literary Map of Pennsylvania in the counties with which they are most closely associated.  If you click on that county's list of biographies, you'll find a brief sketch about that author.  Some of the poets of Common Wealth have also been featured in the Center for the Book's Public Poetry Project.  Click here to go to the Public Poetry Project page.

Enjoy the book, the poetry, and your exploration of poetry in and about Pennsylvania.

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