July 8, 1999 Fact Sheet: Library of Congress Bicentennial Celebration Poetry for the Nation

Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem project was launched in 1997, during his first term as Poet Laureate, when President and Mrs. Clinton read their favorite poems at the White House. Readings for the project have also been held in many other cities, and continue to be held nationwide.

Mr. Pinsky was recently appointed to an unprecedented third one-year term as Poet Laureate.

The goal of the project is to make 1,000 audio and 200 video tapes of people from all walks of life reciting their favorite poem. These tapes will be added to the Library's Archive of Literature on Tape as a permanent record, "at the end of the century, of what we Americans choose, and what we do with our voices and faces, when asked to say aloud a poem that we love," said Mr. Pinsky.

The Favorite Poem Project is sponsored by the Library's Center for the Book, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and Boston University.