Poetry without charges or fees

Kathy Matheson in the Chicago Tribune:

Screenhunter_09_may_18_0600It’s like an iTunes for poetry — and it’s free!

Professors at the University of Pennsylvania are offering recordings of contemporary poets’ work to the public through an online audio archive of digital downloads, without charges or fees.

“It’s unprecedented within poetry,” Charles Bernstein, an English professor and the site’s co-director said, calling it the “first and the biggest site of its kind.”

Started more than two years ago, PennSound features about 200 writers and more than 10,000 digital recordings contributed by poets, fans and scholars worldwide. Some, such as Gertrude Stein recordings from 1934, date back decades.

The site (writing.upenn.edu/pennsound) mainly focuses on historical avant-garde and innovative contemporary poetry, such as works by Allen Ginsberg or current U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall.

More here.