New York, NY (November 4, 2014)—The Academy of American Poets is pleased to announce that 2014 National Book Award finalist and award-winning New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast will design the official celebratory poster for National Poetry Month, April 2015. Each year the organization distributes a poster free-of-charge to over 100,000 schools, libraries, and bookstores nationwide for their April celebrations. Known for her sharp wit and true-to-life storytelling, Chast was selected by renowned graphic designer Chip Kidd on behalf of the Academy of American Poets.
"Roz Chast is the perfect choice to create the National Poetry Month poster,” said Chip Kidd. “I think she is the Sylvia Plath of comics, only funnier, and from Ocean Parkway.”
National Poetry Month, created and organized by the Academy of American Poets, is the largest literary celebration in the world with millions of people celebrating poetry in their communities each April. The Academy of American Poets provides special lesson plans for teachers during the month, promotes local events, and distributes the official National Poetry Month poster through partnerships with the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. The poster is also available upon request on the organization’s website, Poets.org.
About Roz Chast
Roz Chast is a 2014 National Book Award finalist for her graphic memoir, Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?, which also won her the inaugural Kirkus Prize in the nonfiction category and was a #1 New York Times bestseller. She has authored and illustrated several books, including Theories of Everything: Selected, Collected, and Health-Inspected Cartoons of Roz Chast, 1978-2006 and The Alphabet from A to Y, with Bonus Letter, Z, the bestselling children's book by Steve Martin. Her cartoons have been published in many magazines, including The New Yorker, Scientific American, Harvard Business Review, Redbook, and Mother Jones. Chast’s other awards and honors include honorary doctorates from Dartmouth College, Lesley University/Art Institute of Boston, and Pratt Institute. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College.
About Chip Kidd
Chip Kidd is an award-winning graphic designer and writer in New York City, where his groundbreaking book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf have impacted the form for close to three decades. He has worked with hundreds of writers, including John Updike, Katherine Hepburn, Cormac McCarthy, Henry Louis Gates Jr., James Ellroy, Karen Russell, Michael Crichton, David Sedaris, Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Sharon Olds, Orhan Pamuk, Paul Simon, Neil Gaiman, and Haruki Murakami. His first novel, The Cheese Monkeys, was a national bestseller, and his recent book, GO, is the first book to teach graphic design to children. He is the recipient of the National Design Award for Communications, and his TED talk has been viewed over 1.2 million times to date.
About the Academy of American Poets
Now in its eightieth year, the Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. The organization produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly-funded website for poets and poetry; National Poetry Month; American Poets magazine; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. In addition, since its founding in 1934, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization through its American Poets Prizes.