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Celebrating National Poetry Month
As April marks National Poetry Month, FOX 11 was joined by Hiram Sims, executive director and founder of the Community Literature Initiative.
April is National Poetry Month, and joining us at Fox Local is Hiram Sims, executive director and founder of Community Literature Initiative and the Sims Library of Poetry. Wait for it! Near the end of our segment, Sims will read one of his own fantastic poems that is sure to warm your heart as you hear his appreciation for books.
The Sims Library of Poetry is Los Angeles’ only dedicated poetry library, home to over 10,000 books of poetry, located in South Los Angeles’ Hyde Park. What began as a grassroots effort to make poetry accessible has grown into a creative hub for the community.
"We are the first Black-owned poetry library in the state of California," Sims said. "We aim to engage with the South L.A. community by offering a space to read, write, study, perform and appreciate poetry."
Sims is a USC graduate born and raised in South Los Angeles. The organization says, "Our founder started lending books to his poetry students out of this suitcase after mandating that they read one book of poetry a week. As demand grew, his suitcase library was forced to seek a larger home. Poetry open mics and other events were held in the Sims backyard as a community began to establish itself around the growing library."
The Sims Library of Poetry has since grown by leaps and bounds. "We now have over 10,000 books, and counting."
On Thursday, they are launching the "Rent Party" campaign on April 30 to raise awareness of their programming and secure funding to keep their doors open. It’s both a celebration of literature and a real-time story about sustaining arts spaces in Los Angeles. I’d love to talk about how the library started. Sims will be doing a live reading from "Poems in Praise of Libraries."