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Category Archive
Weekly Poem: 'haiku (failed)' February 6, 2012 |
Nick Flynn is a poet, playwright and memoirist whose most recent book is "The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands" (2011, Graywolf Press), a collection of poems that are linked to his latest memoir, "The Ticking is the Bomb" (2010, W. W. Norton & Company). He teaches creative writing at the University of Houston.
The Life, Work of Poet Wislawa Szymborska February 2, 2012 |
Jeffrey Brown talks to Wislawa Szymborska's longtime translator, Clare Cavanagh, professor of Slavic languages and comparative literate at Northwestern University, about the poet's life and work.
Adam Johnson Reads From His Novel, 'The Orphan Master's Son' January 31, 2012 |
Adam Johnson reads from his novel, "The Orphan Master's Son."
Weekly Poem: 'Around' January 30, 2012 |
Rae Armantrout is the author of 11 books of poetry and winner of numerous other awards, including the Pulitzer prize. She is also a professor of writing and literature at the University of California-San Diego.
Friday on the NewsHour: Poet Rae Armantrout January 27, 2012 |
An extended interview and reading with Rae Armantrout.
Conversation: Rosenblatt's 'Kayak Morning' January 27, 2012 |
Jeffrey brown talks to Roger Rosenblatt about his new book, "Kayak Morning: Relfections on Love, Grief, and Small Boats."
Weekly Poem: 'Tale' January 23, 2012 |
Natasha Saje was born in Germany and grew up in New York City and northern New Jersey. She is the author of two books of poems: "Red Under the Skin" (Pittsburgh, 1994) and "Bend" (Tupelo Press, 2004). She teaches at Westminster College in Salt Lake City and in the Vermont College MFA in Writing program.
Weekly Poem: 'Root' January 16, 2012 |
Terrance Hayes is the author of four books of poems: "Muscular Music" (1999); "Hip Logic" (2002, National Poetry Series winner); "Wind in a Box" (2006); and "Lighthead" (2010), which won the National Book Award for poetry.
Weekly Poem: From 'Movements Forward, Movements Away' January 9, 2012 |
Peter Conners is the author of several books, including the poetry collections "The Crows Were Laughing in Their Trees" and "Of Whiskey and Winter." He is publisher of the not-for-profit literary press BOA Editions.
Conversation: Joan Didion January 6, 2012 |
Mortality is a subject Joan Didion has grappled with in recent years, both in life and on the page. In the span of roughly two years, her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, and their only child, Quintana Roo, both died. Her new book is "Blue Nights."
Weekly Poem: 'Rime Riche' December 26, 2011 |
Monica Ferrell is the author of the collection of poems "Beasts for the Chase" (2008, Sarabande Books) and the novel, "The Answer Is Always Yes" (2008, Dial Press).
On the NewsHour: Poet Mark Doty December 21, 2011 |
On Wednesday's NewsHour, Mark Doty read his poem, "Messiah (Christmas Portions)." We'll post that poem here later this evening. He shared another of poems with us, below, called "A Display of Mackerel."
Conversation: The Year in Fiction December 21, 2011 |
What was 2011 like for fiction? And what was it like for books themselves? I recently talked with Washington Post book critic Ron Charles about the novels and authors who stood out from the others and about the business of publishing in a big year for e-readers like the Kindle.
Weekly Poem: '4th Grade Logic' December 19, 2011 |
P.F. Potvin is the author of "The Attention Lesson" (2006, No Tell Books). He serves on the staff of the online literary journal Drunken Boat. and has been a visiting writer at Emory University and the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Conversation: Michael Ondaatje December 16, 2011 |
The fictional voyage in Michael Ondaatje's new novel, "The Cat's Table," is like one that he took long ago before becoming the much honored writer of such works as "The English Patient" and "Anil's Ghost" and "Divisadero." Jeffrey Brown talks with Ondaatje.
Friday on the NewsHour: Rita Dove December 16, 2011 |
An extended interview and reading with poet Rita Dove.
Weekly Poem: 'Crossings' December 12, 2011 |
Ravi Shankar is founding editor of the online journal of the arts Drunken Boat. He teaches at Central Connecticut State College where he is poet-in-residence and in the MFA program at City University of Hong Kong.
Weekly Poem: 'Prayer for the Hanoi Man Who Waits for Breakdowns on His Block' December 5, 2011 |
Jennifer Richter is author of the collection, "Threshold," winner of the 2009 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition.
Conversation: Andrew Graham-Dixon, Author of 'Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane' December 2, 2011 |
Michelangelo Caravaggio was one of the great painters in the history of Western art. He also remains one of the most mysterious and elusive of artistic geniuses. A new biography wrestles with the man, his times and his work. "Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane" is by Andrew Graham-Dixon, an art critic, historian and television host of documentaries on art for the BBC.
Weekly Poem: 'The Radioactive Dating Game' November 28, 2011 |
Mala Radhakrishnan is an assistant professor at Wellesley College and is the author of a book of poems about chemistry called "Atomic Romances, Molecular Dances." Her aim is to use poetry, but also easy-to-understand analogies to teach such subjects as thermodynamics, kinetics and molecular reactions.
Weekly Poem: 'Radio Crackling, Radio Gone' November 21, 2011 |
Lisa Olstein is the author of the collections, "Radio Crackling, Radio Gone" (Copper Canyon Press, 2006), winner of the Hayden Carruth Award, and "Lost Alphabet" (Copper Canyon Press, 2009). She is associate director of MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Ward, Finney Are Among 2011 National Book Award Winners November 16, 2011 |
The 2011 National Book Awards were announced at a ceremony in New York Wednesday night.
Tuesday on the NewsHour: 'Midnight Rising' November 15, 2011 |
Tony Horwitz reads from his book, "Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War."
Weekly Poem: 'Leaf at the End' November 14, 2011 |
Lily Brown is the author of "Rust or Go Home" (Cleveland State University, 2010).
Conversation: Stephen Mitchell, Author of the New Translation of Homer's 'The Iliad' November 11, 2011 |
Stephen Mitchell is a poet and one of the preeminent translators and interpreters of ancient and modern classics. His works include "Gilgamesh," "Tao Te Ching," "The Book of Job," "The Gospel According to Jesus" and "The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke."
Conversation: Julian Barnes, Winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize November 8, 2011 |
The Man Booker Prizeis given annually to a novel by an author in Britain, Ireland or one of the Commonwealth nations. It is highly prestigious, as well as often highly contentious and controversial. This year was no exception. This year's prize went to one of Britain's leading writers, winning for his first time, Julian Barnes.
Weekly Poem: 'Olives' November 7, 2011 |
"Olives" is the title poem of A.E. Stallings' forthcoming collection, which comes out in the spring. A poet and translator, Stallings was one of this year's MacArthur Award winners.
'Pulphead' Tours the Geography of American Culture November 2, 2011 |
John Jeremiah Sullivan's new collection of essays, "Pulphead," forms a patchwork image of Americana.
Weekly Poem: 'Half-Finished Bridge' October 31, 2011 |
Jim Tilley is the author of the poetry collection, "In Confidence." His poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and have won several awards.
Weekly Poem: 'Death of a Naturalist' October 24, 2011 |
Nobel winning poet Seamus Heaney reads "Death of a Naturalist."
In 'The Death-Ray,' Clowes Takes on the Powers of a Teenage Superhero October 20, 2011 |
You may not yet recognize artist, writer and cartoonist Daniel Clowes by name, but there's a growing chance that you've been exposed to his work. His latest work to be published into hardcover form is "The Death-Ray," a very different take on the superhero genre.
Weekly Poem: 'See You Tomorrow Night' October 17, 2011 |
Terri Witek is the Art & Melissa Sullivan Chair in Creative Writing at Stetson University. She is the author of "The Shipwreck Dress," (2008, Florida Book Award Winner), "Carnal World" (2006), "Fools and Crows" (2003), and "Courting Couples" (2000 Center for Book Arts Prize).
Susan Orlean Charts the Rise of America's Most Beloved Dog, Rin Tin Tin October 12, 2011 |
After nearly a decade of research, animal lover and famed author Susan Orlean has written a comprehensive biography of arguably America's most loved dog, Rin Tin Tin.
In Pursuit of the Great White Whale, via Paintbrush October 10, 2011 |
In August 2009 Matt Kish, a librarian by trade and artist by night, decided to draw one image for every page of of his long-time favorite novel - "Moby-Dick". Kish spent the next 543 days in pursuit of his own white whale - the illustration of his book's 552 pages.
Weekly Poem: 'Fiat Lux' October 10, 2011 |
Traci Brimhall is the author of "Our Lady of the Ruins" (forthcoming from W.W. Norton), winner of the 2011 Barnard Women Poets Prize, and "Rookery" (Southern Illinois University Press, 2010), winner of the 2009 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award.
Transtromer, Swedish Poet With 'Tinge of Modernism, Surrealism,' Wins Nobel October 6, 2011 |
The 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature has gone to Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer, the first poet to win the award since 1996. Judges selected Transtromer because, they wrote, "through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality."
Poet Philip Schultz Shares His Work October 5, 2011 |
Philip Schultz is a poet, fiction writer and educator. He has been teaching creative writing for nearly 30 years. In 1987, he founded the Writers Studio in New York. He won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for "Failure."
Poet Donald Hall Reflects on Love, Death and New Hampshire October 5, 2011 |
"Love, death and New Hampshire," Donald Hall once said when asked what he writes about. It remains true in the former US Poet Laureate's newly published book of poems, "The Back Chamber."
Weekly Poem: Remembering Taha Muhammad Ali October 3, 2011 |
Taha Muhammad Ali was born in 1931 in the Galilee village of Saffuriya. After fleeing to Lebanon during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, Muhammad Ali and his family settled in Nazareth where they have lived since. He and his sons have been operating a souvenir shop there for decades. Muhammad Ali died on Sunday, October 2 in Nazareth.
Conversation: A.E. Stallings, Poet and Translator Inspired by the Classics September 30, 2011 |
The MacArthur Awards were recently announced, and one of the winners this year was the poet and translator A.E. Stallings.
Extended Interview: Russell Banks Discusses 'Lost Memory of Skin' September 28, 2011 |
A squalid encampment under a causeway in an American city is the unusual and charged setting for a new novel, "Lost Memory of Skin," which explores some deep issues of American life rarely raised and rarely seen by most of us.
Weekly Poem: 'The Field Has a Girl' September 26, 2011 |
Laurel Snyder is the author of two books of poems, "Daphne & Jim: a choose-your-own-adventure biography in verse" (Burnside Review Press, 2005) and "The Myth of the Simple Machines" (No Tell Books, 2007);
Weekly Poem: 'Crossword' September 19, 2011 |
Sally Bliumis-Dunn is the author of "Second Skin" (Wind Publications, 2010) and "Talking Underwater" (Wind Publications, 2007)". She teaches teaches modern poetry and creative writing at Manhattanville College.
Conversation: Tom Piazza, Author of 'Devil Sent the Rain' September 16, 2011 |
Tom Piazza's works of fiction include the novel, "City of Refuge" and those of non-fiction include "Why New Orleans Matters." His new book is a collection of essays on a wide array of topics, titled "Devil Sent the Rain."
Weekly Poem: 'Duration' September 12, 2011 |
Valerie Nieman is the author of the poetry collection, "Wake Wake Wake" (Press 53, 2006); three novels, "Blood Clay" (Press 53, 2011), "Survivors" (Van Neste Books, 2000) and "Neena Gathering" (Pageant Books, 1988); and a collection of short fiction, "Fidelities" (West Virginia University, 2004). She teaches at North Carolina A&T State University.
Preview of 'America Remembers 9/11': Reading by Poets Billy Collins, Nancy Mercado September 8, 2011 |
For our "America Remembers 9/11" special program, we invited two poets -- Billy Collins and Nancy Mercado -- to each read a poem to mark the anniversary.
Conversation: Amy Waldman, Author of 'The Submission' September 7, 2011 |
What if a jury selected a design for the new 9/11 memorial and then discovered that its architect was a Muslim? Ten years after the terrorist attack, the actual memorial is just about to open. But an alternative history is imagined in the new novel, "The Submission."
Weekly Poem: 'All I Know About Love' August 29, 2011 |
Lynnell Edwards is the author of two collections of poetry, both from Red Hen Press: "The Highwayman's Wife" (2007) and "The Farmer's Daughter" (2003). She teaches at the University of Louisville.
In 'Salvage the Bones,' Jesmyn Ward Tells Personal Story of Hurricane Katrina August 26, 2011 |
"Salvage the Bones," a new novel by Jesmyn Ward, tells the story of a Mississippi Gulf Coast family in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in the U.S. now six years ago this week.
President Obama's Shelf Awareness August 23, 2011 |
Like many Americans, presidents often turn to a good book to ease a troubled mind, and dissecting their summer reading lists has become a bit of an annual tradition.
Weekly Poem: 'Something Touched My Heart' August 22, 2011 |
Travis Nichols is an editor at the Poetry Foundation and the author of the collection of poems, "See Me Improving" (2010, Copper Canyon Press).
Gertrude Stein's 'Four Saints in Three Acts' Achieves a Good Afterlife August 16, 2011 |
Besides being featured in two major art shows, where works collected by Gertrude Stein and her family in Paris during the early days of the 20th century are on display, an avant garde opera written by Stein and composer Virgil Thompson is set to open on Thursday at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Weekly Poem: 'Observation' August 15, 2011 |
Jenn 's work has appeared in several literary journals. She teaches English at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs.
Conversation: Esmeralda Santiago, Author of 'Conquistadora' August 12, 2011 |
Set in the 1800's, Esmeralda Santiago's epic novel, "Conquistadora," tells two coming-of-age stories: one of its heroine, Ana Cubillas, the daughter of Spanish aristocrats who becomes head of a plantation in the new world, and the other of Puerto Rico itself.
Levine Named Next U.S. Poet Laureate August 10, 2011 |
The Library of Congress announced Wednesday that Philip Levine will be the 18th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2011-2012. Levine, 83, succeeds W.S. Merwin.
Weekly Poem: 'Elegy VII (Last Moment)' August 8, 2011 |
Jason Schneiderman is the author of "Striking Surface," winner of the Richard Snyder prize from Ashland Poetry Press, and "Sublimation Point" (Four Way Books). He directs the Writing Center at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
Q&A: Norwegian Poet Cathrine Grondahl August 4, 2011 |
Art Beat talk to Norwegian poet Cathrine Grondahl, the author of four books of poetry, about the July 22 attacks.
Weekly Poem: 'Sheriff Ed Rebuffed Her ('Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey!'), Then He Fell' August 1, 2011 |
K. Silem Mohammad is the author of "Breathalyzer" (Edge Books, 2008), "A Thousand Devils" (Combo Books, 2004) and "Deer Head Nation" (Tougher Disguises, 2003). He is also editor of the magazine Abraham Lincoln.
Conversation: Norwegian Author Anne Holt on the Lessons of Oslo July 29, 2011 |
Jeffrey Brown talks to crime writer Anne Holt about the situation in Norway in the aftermath of the July 22 attacks by Anders Behring Breivik. Holt is one of Scandinavia's most successful crime writers, but she's also had quite a career before that.
Weekly Poem: (Interior Life of Tumbler: July 25, 2011 |
Julie Sheehan is the author of three poetry collections: "Thaw" (2001); "Orient Point" (2006), which won the Barnard Women Poets Prize; and "Bar Book: Poems and Otherwise" (2010). She teaches in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton.
It's the End for Borders, but How Are Independent Bookstores Faring? July 21, 2011 |
When Borders established itself as a major chain in the 1990s, it became, along with Barnes & Noble, and later, online retailers like Amazon, a main competitor of small, independent bookstores around the country. Today, having outlived Borders, small stores are facing some old challenges (the recession) as well as some new challenges (like e-books).
Weekly Poem: 'Morning, and as sun is born' July 18, 2011 |
Joan Houlihan has published three books, including "The Us" (2009, Tupelo Press). In 2004, she founded the Concord Poetry Center, and in 2006 she established the Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference for advanced writers. She teaches at Lesley University's low-residency M.F.A. in Creative Writing program.
Weekly Poem: 'Excuse Me, Where Is Varick Street?' July 11, 2011 |
Joy Katz is the author of two poetry collections, "The Garden Room" (2006, Tupelo Press) and "Fabulae" (2002, Southern Illinois University Press). She teaches in the graduate writing program at the University of Pittsburgh and is an editor-at-large for Pleiades.
Historian David McCullough's 'The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris' July 8, 2011 |
More of Jeffrey Brown's conversation with historian David McCullough, author of "The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris."
Weekly Poem: From 'Severance Songs' July 5, 2011 |
Joshua Corey is the author of "Severance Songs" (Tupelo Press, 2011), "Fourier Series" (Spineless Books, 2005) "Selah" (Barrow Street, 2003) and two chapbooks. He teaches at Lake Forest College in Illinois.
Monday on the NewsHour: Josh Ritter July 4, 2011 |
Josh Ritter reads from his novel, "Bright's Passage," and performs his song, "Girl in the War."
Conversation: Eleanor Henderson, Author of 'Ten Thousand Saints' July 1, 2011 |
Jeffrey Brown talks to Eleanor Henderson, author of "Ten Thousand Saints," a novel that's garnering strong reviews for its treatment of teens, an underground youth culture and troubled family relationships.
Ever Been Rejected by Poetry Magazine? You're in Very Good Company June 29, 2011 |
The Poetry Foundation opened its new home in Chicago last weekend, and as it celebrates this achievement, we decided it would be fun to ask for people's stories about being rejected from the foundation's time-honored literary journal, Poetry magazine. If you're a writer and you've sent out work to journals, you know the feeling.
Weekly Poem: 'Georgi Borrisov in Paris' June 28, 2011 |
John Balaban is the author of 12 books of poetry and prose, including four volumes which together have won the Academy of American Poets' Lamont prize, a National Poetry Series Selection and two nominations for the National Book Award. He is poet-in-residence and professor of English at North Carolina State University.
Brooke Gladstone's Graphic Commentary of Media's 'Influencing Machine' June 24, 2011 |
Brooke Gladstone is the long time co-host and managing director of WNYC's On The Media. Her new book about media in society is "The Influencing Machine," a comic book illustrated by Josh Neufeld.
Weekly Poem: From 'The Last Usable Hour' June 22, 2011 |
Deborah Landau is the author of "Orchidelirium," which won the Anhinga Prize for Poetry, and "The Last Usable Hour" (2011, Copper Canyon Press). She is the director of the NYU Creative Writing Program.
Weekly Poem: 'To Television' May 23, 2011 |
Former poet laureate Robert Pinsky reads "To Television" from his "Selected Poems."
Weekly Poem: From 'My God, It's Full of Stars' May 16, 2011 |
Tracy K. Smith is the author of three collections of poetry: "Life on Mars" (Graywolf Press, 2011); Duende (Graywolf, 2007), winner of the 2006 James Laughlin Award of the Academy of American Poets; and "The Body's Question" (Graywolf, 2003), winner of the 2002 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.
Weekly Poem: 'These Arms of Mine' May 9, 2011 |
David Kirby is the author of several books of criticism, essays, children's literature and poetry, including most recently, "Talking about Movies with Jesus" (2011) and "The House on Boulevard Street: New and Selected Poems" (2007), a finalist for the National Book Award. Kirby is the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University.
Conversation: Karen Russell, Author of 'Swamplandia!' May 6, 2011 |
Karen Russell's novel, "Swamplandia!" centers around the Bigtree family, which runs an amusement park in the Florida everglades. But this isn't a Disney-style park -- alligator wrestling is the major draw.
Conversation: Nathacha Appanah, Author of 'The Last Brother' May 5, 2011 |
"The Last Brother" is Nathacha Appanah's fourth novel and her second translated into English. The book centers on the unlikely friendship of two young boys, Raj and David, as they both struggle with intense loneliness and the impact of their violent pasts.
A Reading List for the Post-9/11 Era May 3, 2011 |
A roundup of NewsHour conversations with writers over the last decade about books that address, directly and indirectly, how 9/11, Osama bin Laden and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have influenced how we live today.
Weekly Poem: 'This is a fugue for the lost art of aching' May 2, 2011 |
Heather Hartley is the author of "Knock Knock," which was a finalist in the 2007 National Poetry Series.
Conversation: More Reflections on Writing from Roger Rosenblatt April 29, 2011 |
We've invited Roger Rosenblatt, author of 'Unless It Moves The Human Heart: The Craft and Art of Writing', back to our newsroom to continue a conversation we began in January.
Conversation: PEN World Voices Festival Director Laszlo Jakab Orsos April 28, 2011 |
Now in New York until May 1, more than 100 writers from around the world have gathered for the annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature.
Weekly Poem: 'Miracle Blanket' April 25, 2011 |
Erika Meitner is an assistant professor of English at Virginia Tech, where she teaches in the MFA program. She has published three books of poems: "Inventory at the All-Night Drugstore," "Ideal Cities" and "Makeshift Instructions for Vigilant Girls."
Weekly Poem: 'Love Poem' April 18, 2011 |
Dora Malech earned a BA in Fine Arts from Yale College in 2003 and an MFA in Poetry from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2005. Her first full-length collection of poems, "Shore Ordered Ocean," was published in 2009, and the Cleveland State University Poetry Center published her second collection, "Say So," in 2011.
Conversation: Howard Jacobson April 15, 2011 |
British novelist Howard Jacobson was the winner of the 2010 Man Booker Prize for "The Finkler Question." Jacobson's touring now with a novel called "The Might Walzer," which is being published for the first time in the United States.
Weekly Poem: 'Fear and Greed Index:' April 11, 2011 |
Daniel Khalastchi is a first-generation Iraqi Jewish American and was born and raised in Iowa. His book, "'Manoleria,'":http://www.tupelopress.org/books/manoleria won the Tupelo Press/Crazyhorse First Book Prize earlier this year. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a recent fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Khalastchi is a visiting assistant professor of English at Marquette University. He also co-edits "Rescue Press":http://www.rescue-press.org/.
Iowa Writers' Workshop Turns 75 April 7, 2011 |
More of Jeffrey Brown's report on the Iowa Writers' Workshop, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year.
Weekly Poem: 'Paper Kisses, Paper Moon' April 4, 2011 |
Haines Eason was the 2010 winner of the Beau Boudreaux Poetry Prize from Cream City Review. He has published poems in many journals, including New England Review, Yale Review and American Letters & Commentary. His chapbook, "A History of Waves," was chosen by Mark Doty for a 2010 PSA Chapbook Fellowship.
Conversation: Tea Obreht, Author
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Weekly Poem: 'Around'
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