Cover Art: Diane Wilbon Parks
Turning Poetry Into Food: A Poetry X Hunger Anthology
eds. Hiram Larew and Tina Daub
Available December 2026
Turning Poetry Into Food
Hunger is on the rise everywhere – in our families, next door, across town, on campuses, around the country and internationally. In response, Poetry X Hunger poets from near and far have stepped up. They’re using their truth-telling, soul-searching poetic talents to raise awareness about hunger. This curated collection of their powerful, award-winning anti-hunger poems is a call to action. It’s also a fundraiser; proceeds from the book will support many anti-hunger causes. The collection covers topics such as food waste, nutrition, childhood hunger, famine, historical hunger, and the many causes of hunger such as war, poverty, and climate change. Who should use the collection? As a handbook, it’s designed to spur discussions and learning in classrooms, worship services, public gatherings, food banks -- and over kitchen tables. Each poem includes a link to the poet’s recording of her/his work. Biographical information on each poet is also provided.
Poetry X Hunger
Poetry X Hunger (www.PoetryXHunger), an initiative to rouse poets from around the world to the anti-hunger cause, launched in 2018. With help from the United Nations, numerous arts organizations, food assistance groups and individual donors, the initiative’s library of anti-hunger poems has grown from almost zero to over 400. And, those poems have been used in widely viewed Public Service Announcements to raise awareness about the hunger’s scourge. They have also been used by Poetry X Hunger poets to raise thousands of dollars for anti-hunger groups, thus the motto: “Turning Poetry into Food.” Poetry X Hunger is a component fund of Chesapeake Charities which is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. For more information contact PoetryXHunger@gmail.com
About the Editors
During his career, Hiram Larew guided US Government food security programs. His seventh collection of poems, This Much Very, was published by Alien Buddha Press in 2025. His poems have appeared in recent issues of Poetry South, Iowa Review, Poetry Scotland, and Contemporary American Voices, and have been nominated for four national Pushcart awards. He’s received support from Arts Councils and Food Banks as well as the United Nations and Feed the Children for his Poetry X Hunger, an initiative that is bringing a world of poets to the anti-hunger cause. And, he founded the Voices of Woodlawn, a powerful program of poetry, music and art that explores America’s tragic history and legacy of slavery. Larew is a Courtesy Faculty at five U. S. universities, is a former member of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Poetry Board and has been popularly interviewed in magazines and on radio, social media and podcasts. He lives in Churchton, Maryland, USA. www.HiramLarewPoetry.com ~ www.PoetryXHunger.com ~ Hiram Larew | Maryland State Arts Council (msac.org) ~ Hiram Larew | Poets & Writers (pw.org)
Christina Daub co-founded The Plum Review, a national award winning poetry journal, started The Plum Writers' Retreats and The Plum Reading Series which featured Joseph Brodsky, Carolyn Forché, Mark Strand and many others. Recent work appears in Another Chicago Magazine, Bellevue Literary Journal, Gargoyle, The Kenyon Review, Poet Lore, Poetry Travels, Potomac Review, The Broadkill Review, The Southampton Review, Shō Poetry Journal, Stone Circle Review as well as the anthologies What the House Knows, edited by Diane Lockward, Full Moon on K Street: Poems About Washington, DC, edited by Kim Roberts, 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day, and The Paradelle, both edited by Billy Collins. Her work has been translated into Russian, Italian, German and Greek. She has taught Poetry and Creative Writing in the English Department at George Washington University and in both the Maryland and Virginia Poets-in-the-Schools programs as well as to adults for many years at The Writer's Center. Her poem, "Charge" was featured by the New York Society Library during National Poetry Month 2024 as well as Pathways magazine, having been originally published by PoetryXHunger.com. "Greening" was nominated best of the Net in 2024 and “At the One Step,” received a 2017 Pushcart Prize nomination. She has translated the poetry of Blanca Wiethüchter and Friederike Mayröcker and has recent articles in The Writer's Chronicle and The Austrian Riveter. She has an MFA in Poetry from University of Maryland www.christinadaub.com