Bill Moyers acclaimed poetry series The Language of Life to DVD April 5

By April MacIntyre Mar 24, 2011, 4:04 GMT

National Poetry Month brings the DVD release of Bill Moyers acclaimed poetry series The Language of Life - to DVD April 5.

April is National Poetry Month, and documentary specialist Athena debuts Bill Moyers acclaimed series The Language of Life on DVD on April 5th.

The series combines intimate, one-on-one interviews with public performances to celebrate modern poetry’s diverse voices.

Critics are raving about this series, called “A wonderfully ear-opening experience” by The New York Times, as the program features inspiring and moving segments with National Book Award honorees, Pulitzer Prize winners, and a former U.S. Poet Laureate.

“A wonderfully ear-opening experience” —The New York Times

“The poetic sensibility come alive” —The New York Times

“Enriching and gratifying” —Los Angeles Times

“Soul stirring”—Variety

“Spellbinding” —Newsday

The magic of the spoken word takes center stage in the PBS-broadcast series, Bill Moyers: The Language of Life, arriving to DVD from Athena on April 5, 2011. Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning journalist, Bill Moyers (PBS, NBC, CBS) combines intimate, one-on-one interviews and public performances in this celebration of modern poetry’s diverse voices. Broadcast in 1995, the program features inspiring and moving segments with National Book Award honorees, Pulitzer Prize winners, and a former U.S. Poet Laureate, including such greats as Robert Bly, Adrienne Rich, Carolyn Forché, Gary Snyder and Lucille Clifton—as well as musical accompaniment by the famed Paul Winter Consort. This exhilarating eight-part series testifies to the full range of human experience and recognizes poetry’s power to inspire, redeem, and celebrate life (DVD 3-Vol.,www.AcornOnline.com).

Join host Bill Moyers as he engages 18 writers in lively conversation, and share the experience of hearing them read aloud before a live audience. Produced and directed by Emmy®-winning documentarian David Grubin and filmed on location at the fifth biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in historic Waterloo, New Jersey, The Language of Life celebrates the creative pulse of poetry like never before.

Ep. 1: Polyrhythmic performances with Sekou Sundiata, and Naomi Shihab Nye’s search for universal truths.

Ep. 2: Transcendent verse by the 13th-century Persian mystic Rumi, as interpreted and read by Coleman Barks.

Ep. 3: Saying the “unsayable” about violence and love, poems by Linda McCarriston and Sandra McPherson.

Ep. 4: Poems of family and politics by Carolyn Forché and Claribel Alegría; haiku by Robert Hass.

Ep. 5: Everyday heroes and heroines in poems by former Sandinista revolutionary Daisy Zamora; “landscapes of the mind” by Gary Snyder.

Ep. 6: Expressions of rage and forgiveness by Jimmy Santiago Baca, of identity and duality by Marilyn Chin, and of aging and wisdom by Robert Bly.

Ep. 7: “Moving deeper into the heart of things” with Adrienne Rich, celebrating multiculturalism with Victor Hernández Cruz, and jazzing with Michael S. Harper.

Ep. 8: Poems exploring the pain and courage required to stand out, fit in, and stand up, by Lucille Clifton and David Mura.

BONUS FEATURES: 16-page viewer’s guide with introduction by Bill Moyers; profiles of the writers, and a guide to selected poetry festivals across America; poet book lists and a biography of Bill Moyers.

DVD 3-Vol. Boxed Set – 8 Episodes - Approx. 447 minutes – SDH subtitles

Athena released Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers (Sept. 2010), Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason (Nov. 2010), Bill Moyers: Genesis-A Living Conversation (Nov. 2010), Bill Moyers: In Search of the Constitution (Feb. 2011) and Bill Moyers: World of Ideas-Writers (Feb. 2011).

Athena releases provide an authoritative and entertaining learning experience through high quality, informative, non-fiction programming. Athena’s previous Bill Moyers releases include: Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth, on Faith and Reason, and Genesis-A Living Conversation. Other Athena releases include 20th Century with Mike Wallace, Cosmos-A Beginners Guide, The Genius of Design, Monarchy, Venice Revealed, Six Centuries of Verse, Hitler’s Bodyguard, Discovering Hamlet, The Adventure of English, Playing Shakespeare, The Story of Math, World War I in Color, Testament.

*Great Mother's Day gift idea: Also look out for "Upstairs, Downstairs Complete Series: 40th Anniversary Edition", the most popular and successful British drama series in television history in a chock-a-block 21-disc collection featuring more than 25 hours of never-before-seen extras; The Genius of Design (DVD Debut), a fun, fast-paced and always informative BBC documentary; and The Cosmos: A Beginner’s Guide (U.S. Debut), a captivating BBC documentary series revealing revolutionary discoveries about the universe’s composition, history and origin.

Coming to DVD:

April 19: Clive Owen, Sean Bean, and Polly Walker in Lorna Doone and A Mind to Kill, Series 3

About Acorn Media: The Acorn Media Group, a leading independent media company, provides distinctive home video products with a special focus on the best of British television programming, Acorn Media has exclusive distribution rights to hundreds of collectible titles on DVD.

Its U.S. division will release more than 100 DVDs in North America in 2011, including Upstairs, Downstairs Complete Series: 40th Anniversary Edition; NBC’s star-studded Who Do You Think You Are? Season 1 from Lisa Kudrow; BBC’s smash hit series New Tricks (Seasons 3-5); great new series Garrow’s Law, Single-Handed, and Reggie Perrin with Martin Clunes; more episodes from Doc Martin, Murphy’s Law, Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Marple, George Gently, Murdoch Mysteries, Midsomer Murders; as well as several Blu-ray releases, including Brideshead Revisited: 30th Anniversary Edition, Visions of Europe, and Robin of Sherwood, Set 1; and acclaimed documentaries from our Athena line with Discovering Hamlet with Kenneth Branagh and Derek Jacobi, Genius of Britain, and more from Mike Wallace and the Bill Moyers library