Wilkes-Barre, Pa., March 8, 2022 - The award-winning Poetry in Transit program that displays poems on Luzerne County buses is currently accepting poetry and photography submissions for their 2022-23 season until May 13, 2022. Returning for its 16th year, this season’s theme is weather.
Inspired by New York City’s Poetry in Motion and London’s Poems on the Underground programs, the Poetry In Transit partnership with Luzerne County Transportation Authority promotes the celebration of art in unexpected places and showcases works of diverse writers from Northeastern Pennsylvania. The project began in 2007 with 12 placards featuring the work of established and canonized poets such as Wordsworth, Dickinson, and Frost and adapted the following year to feature works of local poets. In 2019, the project expanded to writers around the world.
Jennifer Judge Yonkoski, assistant technical professor of English at King’s College, coordinates the program alongside the King’s College’s printshop and Lamar Advertising. Last November, the College was awarded a $500 Community Grant from the Walmart Foundation to assist Poetry In Transit and LCTA fund the installations.
Final poems will be selected by an advisory board of writers and faculty from area colleges while photographs will be selected by the panel designer. This season’s program will be launched at an event in August, where writers are invited to read their works and photographers discuss their pieces. The panels will then be displayed through July of 2023 and rotated monthly so that riders can experience the entire collection.
Poetry Submission Requirements
Writers are permitted to submit up to three pieces within the weather theme that are six lines or less (excerpts from longer works are permitted). Poems should avoid profanity, outright political screeds, or religious statements. Submissions should be organized in a Word Document with a cover sheet that includes your name as you’d like it to appear on the panel, title(s) of your work, your phone number, email address, mailing address, and a 50-word or less bio written in the third person.
Photography Submission Requirements
Photographers are permitted to submit up to three color or black and white photos, preferably in landscape orientation, within the weather theme. All images should be high quality 300 dpi in either JPG, PNG, or TIFF format. Along with your image file(s), please submit a Word Document cover sheet that includes your name as you’d like it to appear on the panel, your phone number, email address, mailing address, and a 50-word or less bio written in the third person. Please forward questions and submissions—due by May 13, 2022—to Poetry in Transit Coordinator Jennifer Judge Yonkoski at papoetryintransit@gmail.com.