April is National Poetry Month, and we can think of no better occasion than that to point you toward the excellent poetry coverage that we get up to all the time at 49th Shelf. A short trip back through our archives will reveal that our national poetry is celebrated here all year round.

We're pleased to feature the shortlists for the Raymond Souster Award, Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, which were announced on April 2.

To mark International Women's Day, Marita Dachsel (author of new book Glossolalia) brought us a diverse and compelling list of great Canadian poetry collections written by women.

Julie Wilson recently did a great interview with Sandra Djwa, author of Journey With No Maps, the acclaimed new biography of Canadian poet P.K. Page.

Our Children's Librarian columnist, Julie Booker, published a great post last fall about Canadian poetry for kids.

During our Lit Wish List campaign, we compiled a Poetry Gateways book list, books for readers who don't know they love poetry (yet).

Check out our interview with Beatriz Hausner about her poetry collection, Enter the Raccoon, which tells the story of a love affair between woman and raccoon.

We've got a video interview with poet Gillian Wigmore, author of Dirt of Ages.

Sonia Saikaley writes about "Shopping for Poetry in the Grocery Aisle," about the connections between food, poetry and longing for home.

Acclaimed poet Pamela Mordecai writes about her choice to use plain words in her poetry. She notes, "I’m happy to be as obscure as anyone. But I also want people to read, and read what I write—not only the initiated but also all those 'interested bystanders.'"

We featured a "Behind the Poem" piece by Mark Lavorato, whose book Wayworn Wooden Floors has just been nominated for the Raymond Souster Prize.

Poet Sheniz Janmohamed celebrated some of her favourite Asian Canadian women poets for Asian Heritage Month.

Naomi McIlwraith wrote a fantastic blog post on her experiences writing a poetry collection in both English and Cree.

And Canadian kid-lit expert Helene Kubiw provided us with a great list of Exceptional Kids' Novels in Verse.

We've also published excerpts from Lorna Crozier's The Book of Marvels (just nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award), Billeh Nickerson's Impact: The Titanic Poems, and Kathryn Mockler's The Saddest Place on Earth.

Outside the 49th Shelf universe, we're thrilled to be travelling along on the Literary Press Group's 30 Day Coast-to-Coast Poetry Project throughout April.

And do check out these fantastic book trailers, the first for David Seymour's new book For Display Purposes Only and the second for Hummingbird by John Wall Barger (which has just been shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award).