Tucson, Arizona. July 1, 2023. The University of Arizona Poetry Center, part of the College of Humanities, is excited to announce a new partnership with The Sealey Challenge. The Sealey Challenge is a community effort to read one book of poetry each day for the month of August. Beginning in August 2023, the Poetry Center will leverage its resources as the largest standalone library collection of poetry in the United States to take a leadership role, partnering with founder Nicole Sealey. The Poetry Center will provide administrative support, build awareness, and seek to grow the number of readers who adopt the challenge.
The Sealey Challenge was founded by poet Nicole Sealey in 2017. Balancing her administrative work with the promotion of her first book left Sealey little time to read for pleasure. She challenged herself to read a book a day for the month of August, shared her experience on social media, and The Sealey Challenge was born. Now in its seventh year, The Sealey Challenge attracts an international following from the thousands of readers who choose poetry each August, celebrating the vibrant diversity of the art form.
To participate, readers simply plan to read a book of poems each day for the 31 days of August. Those who use social media can join a community of readers by sharing their experience online using the hashtag #thesealeychallenge or #sealeychallenge. Resources to support readers can be found at www.thesealeychallenge.com, along with helpful tips for those participating. Starting in 2023, additional resources will be available at the Poetry Center’s website poetry.arizona.edu and social media pages, including reading suggestions, promotions, and giveaways to support participation.
Sarah Kortemeier, the University of Arizona Poetry Center’s Library Director noted “The Sealey Challenge is a perfect way to carve out time for reading poetry: the month-long book-a-day structure is both ambitious and doable, given the relative brevity of most poetry collections. The Poetry Center Library, meanwhile, is an ideal partner for anyone hoping to complete the Challenge. With over 57,000 books and chapbooks of poetry, the Library has something for everyone, and enough material to support readers over a lifetime of The Sealey Challenges. We are thrilled and grateful for the opportunity to house the Challenge at the Poetry Center.”
Nicole Sealey noted: “I’m delighted to work with The University of Arizona Poetry Center on The Sealey Challenge. With its book-loving team and thousands of titles, The Poetry Center is the perfect place for the Challenge to take up residence and expand its reach in the name of poetry.”
Learn more at www.thesealeychallenge.com.
Born in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. and raised in Apopka, Florida, Nicole Sealey is the author of Ordinary Beast, finalist for the PEN Open Book and Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards, The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named, winner of the Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize, and the forthcoming The Ferguson Report: An Erasure, for which an excerpt from the collection was awarded the 2021 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. She is a visiting professor at Boston University and teaches in the MFA Writers Workshop in Paris program at New York University.
The University of Arizona Poetry Center, part of the UArizona College of Humanities, is housed in one of three landmark buildings for poetry in the nation. In addition to housing the largest standalone collection of contemporary poetry in the country, the Poetry Center is known for its long running readings and lecture series, partnerships and collaborations, classes and workshops, writers’ residencies, and a wide range of programs for children and youth. For more information, please visit poetry.arizona.edu or call (520) 626-3765.