WNIJ 89.5 FM invites all to submit a short poem to the Mother’s Day Poetry Contest. The contest, hosted by Dan Klefstad, will air interviews with the writers of the winning poems every morning at 6:40 and 8:40 beginning Monday, May 8, during the station’s broadcast of Morning Edition.
WNIJ invited prize-winning author Susan Azar Porterfield to select the winning poems. She is the editor of “Zen, Poetry, the Art of Lucien Stryk.” Her book, “Dirt, Root, Silk,” which won the 2015 Cider Press Review’s Editor’s Prize, was a selection in WNIJ’s most recent “Read With Me Book Series.” Porterfield is a distinguished professor emerita of English at Rockford University, an instructor at Northern Illinois University and the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Award for Poetry.
Contest entrants must write no more than 20 lines of poetry about mothers, grandmothers or motherhood. The contest deadline is 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 24. To learn more about the contest rules and how to enter at the Northern Public Radio website.
WNIJ develops writing contests to engage listeners with outstanding work by writers and writing enthusiasts across the region. Staci Hoste, director and general manager of the station, speaks further about the station’s role in showcasing regional talent: “We are privileged to serve our community with programming that connects our listeners with one another through literature. We are committed to making WNIJ a gathering place for writers and readers alike.”
For more information about the Mother’s Day Poetry Contest and other WNIJ literature programs, visit wnij.org.
