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Isabella Rodriguez, a third-grader at Walls Elementary in Kent and a member of 91�ֿ�’s Wick Poetry Center Writing Club, was a featured artist for the 77th Annual Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. The young poet was featured to read her poem “Home” at the event, which was held in Cleveland on Sept. 13.

The Anisfield-Wolf Book Committee and its coordinator, Mary Louise Hahn, chose Rodriguez’s work from several other poets in her age group.

Rodriguez and her poem were a part of the 2012 Traveling Stanzas, a project of 91�ֿ�’s Glyphix Design Studio and the Wick Poetry Center. As part of Wick’s writing club, Rodriguez is one of the dozens of students between second and 12th grade that spend one day a week, for eight weeks, during the summer writing poetry at the Wick Poetry Center.

The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards are prizes given to authors who write works of literature that contribute to the understanding of racism and diversity of human cultures. Rodriguez’s reading was the start of this year’s event. Following the ceremony, she had the honor of meeting former United States Poet Laureate Rita Dove, as well as other members of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Jury.