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October 22, 2009

Kay Ryan came into office as an "unlikely" poet laureate, she has said, living a quiet life in California, working away on her refined, compact verse. Now in her second term as the 16th U.S. poet laureate, she has decided on a project to share with the nation.

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October 19, 2009

Sherman Alexie is a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian born on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Wash. He is the author of several novels and collections of short fiction and poetry, including "Face" and "War Dances," published this year.

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October 12, 2009

Heather McHugh was among the recipients of the so-called "Genius Award" (i.e. the 2009 MacArthur Fellowship).

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October 5, 2009

Jean Valentine has published 11 books of poetry and is also the editor of "The Lighthouse Keeper: Essays on the Poetry of Eleanor Ross Taylor." Last month, she won the 2009 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets.

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September 28, 2009

Robert Hass served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997. His books of poetry include "Time and Materials" (2007 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner); "Sun Under Wood: New Poems"; "Human Wishes"; "Praise"; and "Field Guide" (1973 Yale Younger Poets Series winner).

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Heather McHugh Heather McHugh
Poet, Professor

September 22, 2009

A profile of Seattle poet Heather McHugh, who was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship on Tuesday.

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September 22, 2009

Among today's recipients of the so-called "Genius Award" (i.e. the MacArthur Fellowship) is poet Heather McHugh.

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September 14, 2009

It was Patti Smith who first encouraged Jim Carroll to blend his poetry with rock 'n' roll, bringing him on stage to perform his work with her band. He went on to form the Jim Carroll Band. Jeffrey Brown talks to Smith about her friend, who passed away Friday.

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September 14, 2009

Jim Carroll, the poet and punk rocker who wrote "The Basketball Diaries," passed away Friday at the age of 60.

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September 7, 2009

Paul Hunter is a poet, musician and teacher. He produces letterpress books and broadsides under the imprint of Wood Works Press, his poems have appeared many journals, and he's the author of several chapbooks and four books of poetry

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August 31, 2009

Mary Jo Salter is a poet, lyricist, playwright and essayist, whose latest collection of poems, "A Phone Call to the Future: New and Selected Poems," was published in March 2008.

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August 27, 2009

Five years ago, Emmy Award-winning composer Laura Karpman stumbled across a copy of Hughes"Ask Your Mama." She was instantly struck by the power and potential of the piece, believing it cried out to be realized as a 21st century multimedia performance.

 

August 24, 2009

Cecilia Vicuna's visual work has been exihibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the Whitney Museum of American Art and MoMA. She is also co-editor of the Oxford Book of Latin American Poetry, which was published this month.

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Albert Goldbarth Albert Goldbarth
Poet, Professor

August 17, 2009

Poet and toy collector Albert Goldbarth is a two-time winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as the Mark Twain Prize for Humor. In an interview with Jeffrey Brown, Goldbarth discusses his writing, and his latest book of poetry,"To Be Read in 500 Years."

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August 17, 2009

Andrea Hollander Budy is the author of three poetry collections: "Woman in the Painting," "The Other Life" and "House Without a Dreamer," which won the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize.

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August 10, 2009

Albert Goldbarth is the author of more than twenty books of poetry and has won numerous awards, including two National Book Critics Circle Awards. He is a professor of humanities at Wichita State University, where he has taught since 1987.

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August 6, 2009

When the editors at Autumn House Press in Pittsburgh started looking around at various anthologies of contemporary poetry, they noticed most of the general collections still featured more male bards than female.


 

August 3, 2009

Andrea Hollander Budy is the author of three poetry collections: "Woman in the Painting," "The Other Life" and "House Without a Dreamer," which won the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize.

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July 28, 2009

Albert Goldbarth is the author of more than twenty books of poetry and has won numerous awards, including two National Book Critics Circle Awards. He is a professor of humanities at Wichita State University, where he has taught since 1987.

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July 21, 2009

Most of Jim Harrison's 32 books have been set in the sparsely populated areas he knows well: Northern Michigan, the Sandhills of Nebraska, the Arizona-Mexico border and in the beautiful "Paradise Valley" near Livingston, Mt., where he now lives much of the year.

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July 13, 2009

C.D. Wright has published 13 collections of poetry and prose. "Like Hearing Your Name Called in a Language You Don't Understand" is taken from "Rising, Falling, Hovering" (Copper Canyon, 2008), which in June won the Griffin Poetry Prize.

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Jim Harrison Jim Harrison
Poet

July 9, 2009

Most of Jim Harrison's 32 books have been set in the sparsely populated areas he knows well: Northern Michigan, the Sandhills of Nebraska, the Arizona-Mexico border and in the beautiful "Paradise Valley" near Livingston, Mt., where he now lives much of the year.

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July 8, 2009

C.D. Wright has published 13 collections of poetry and prose. "Re: Happiness, in pursuit thereof" is taken from her most recent book, "Rising, Falling, Hovering" (Copper Canyon, 2008), which in June won Canada's Griffin Poetry Prize.

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June 29, 2009

Natasha Trethewey won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2007 for her book, "Native Guard," written about her mother and black Civil War soldiers on the Mississippi coast.

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June 22, 2009

Javairia Henry recently graduated from Cardozo High School in Washington, D.C. Her poem, "Graffiti," is taken from "The Way We See It: Complete Coverage of the Nation's Capital From the Inside Out."

 

June 15, 2009

"Fundamentals of Esperanto" is from "Facts for Visitors" by Srikanth Reddy, published by University of California Press. The poem is also included in the Poetry Foundation's Chicago Poetry Tour, a multimedia tour of poetry written in and about the city of Chicago.

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June 8, 2009

"Luminous Great Mass" is from Peter O'Leary's collection, "Watchfulness" (Spuyten Duyvil, 2001). The poem is also included in the Poetry Foundation's Chicago Poetry Tour, a multimedia tour of poetry written in and about the city of Chicago.

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June 4, 2009

Afghan-born 13th century Sufi mystic poet Jalaluddin Rumi is the national poet of Afghanistan, as well as a much-loved poet in America. Jeffrey Brown reports on what's behind the popularity of Rumi's poems.

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June 1, 2009

John Ashbery is the author of more than 30 volumes of poetry, criticism and essays. He has won nearly every major American award for poetry, and his body of work has led many to consider him one of the nation's most important writers of the last half century.

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May 26, 2009

J. Michael Martinez's collection "Heredities" was selected for the Academy of American Poets' Walt Whitman Award and will be published by Louisiana State University Press. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Literature at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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May 18, 2009

In March, Jeffrey Schultz was one of four winners of the 92nd Street Y "Discovery" Poetry Contest, which since 1951 has recognized the achievements of poets who have not yet published a first book.

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May 14, 2009

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama and first lady Michele Obama welcomed actors, poets and writers to the East Room of the White House for a night of poetry readings and spoken word.


 

May 11, 2009

In March, Jynne Dilling Martin was one of four winners of the 92nd Street Y "Discovery" Poetry Contest, which since 1951 has recognized the achievements of poets who have not yet published a first book. This year's winners were chosen from among 900 poets.

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May 8, 2009

To sit down and talk with Russell Goings, you would never guess he came to poetry later in life. Stories rich with allusions drawn from the gods of antiquity to the pioneers of the African-American journey pour out of Goings in a rhythm that reveals his connection to the blues and gospel, Homer and Shakespeare.

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May 4, 2009

Russell Goings studied writing at Fairfield University and the 92nd Street Y. Before he took up writing 15 years ago, he was a professional football player, the first African-American brokerage manager for a New York Stock Exchange Member firm and founder and chairman for Essence magazine.

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Bob Hicok Bob Hicok
Poet

April 30, 2009

Bob Hicok was born and raised in Michigan, worked in factories and once owned an automotive die design business there before becoming a professor at Virginia Tech. His poetry reflects on the economic hardships suffered in his home state.

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NewsHour Extra: Lesson Plan for Teachers

 

April 30, 2009

An award-winning poet and assistant professor at the University of Wyoming disappeared after setting out to explore a volcano on the Japanese island of Kuchinoerabu-jima. Japanese rescue teams have searched the dense jungle terrain for Craig Arnold, who has not been seen since Sunday.


 

April 28, 2009

To read Carl Phillips is to enter a world of finely-wrought poems that explore mind and body, history and intimacy. Phillips is a professor of English and African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis and a much praised and honored poet. His 10th volume of verse has just been released. It's called "Speak Low."

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April 27, 2009

Carl Phillips is the author of 10 books of poems, including most recently, "Speak Low." He is Professor of English and African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also teaches in the Creative Writing Program.

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April 24, 2009

Several years ago Jeffrey Brown had the opportunity to travel through Israel and the West Bank to talk to Palestinian and Israeli poets. Among the remarkable writers I met there and the one who made the greatest impression on viewers was Taha Muhammad Ali.

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April 24, 2009

Mark Nowak's recently published poetry collection "Coal Mountain Elementary" explores the perils and at times personal tragedies of the coal mining industry. "Coal Mountain Elementary" is also being staged as a play by Davis & Elkins College.

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Nathalie Handal Nathalie Handal
Poet and playwright

April 20, 2009

Poet, playwright and editor Nathalie Handal has lived in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Arab world. She talks with Jeffery Brown about how she has ensconced her memory and transient experiences in poetry.

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NewsHour Extra: Lesson Plan for Teachers

 

April 20, 2009

Taha Muhammad Ali was born in 1931 in the Galilee village of Saffuriya. He has published several collections of poetry and is also writes short stories. A new biography of Muhammad Ali ('My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness') written by Adina Hoffman, has just come out.

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April 13, 2009

Constantine Cavafy never published a complete book of his poems during his lifetime. For more than 10 years, the writer, critic and translator, Daniel Mendelsohn, has immersed himself in Cavafy's work. The result: "C.P. Cavafy: Collected Poems" and "C.P. Cavafy: The Unfinished Poems."

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April 9, 2009

Poet C.P. Cavafy Constantine Cavafy, the greatest Greek poet since antiquity, never published a complete book of his poems during his lifetime. Cavafy believed that poems remained works in progress and could be altered over time.

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April 6, 2009

Bob Hicok is the author of five books of poems and has won Pushcart Prizes and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He once worked in the automotive die industry and is currently an associate professor of English at Virginia Tech.

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April 1, 2009

Begun in 1996 to encourage the appreciation of poetry, National Poetry Month features a roster of poetry events and readings held all over the country at schools, libraries and bookstores.


 

March 30, 2009

Charles Simic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1938 and moved to the United States in 1954. He was Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2007-2008. Simic, whose work is known for its surrealism, dark humor and irony, is the author of 20 books of poetry.

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March 25, 2009

Cornelius Eady is the director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Notre Dame and is the co-founder and vice president of Cave Canem, a national organization for African-American poetry.

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Kay Ryan Kay Ryan
Poet Laureate

March 25, 2009

Known for compact writing and for leading a quiet life, Kay Ryan has taken on a very public role as the nation's poet laureate. For more than 30 years, she has taught remedial English in Marin County, Calif. Her poems are often praised for their wit and wisdom.

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Newsour Extra: Lesson Plan for Teachers

 

March 16, 2009

Nathalie Handal is the author of two books of poetry, "The NeverField" and "The Lives of Rain," and is also the editor of "The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology" and co-editor of "Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond."

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March 2, 2009

Poet Laureate Kay Ryan reads "Salvage," a poem from her book, "The Niagara River."

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February 23, 2009

Christina Davis is the author of "Forth A Raven" (Alice James Books, 2006). She is Curator at the Woodberry Poetry Room, Harvard University, and the poetry editor of Nightboat Books. In February, Poet Laureate Kay Ryan chose Davis and Mary Szybist for the 2009 Witter Bynner Fellowships.

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Cynthia Zarin Cynthia Zarin
Poet

February 12, 2009

Poet and journalist Cynthia Zarin often writes poems inspired by news articles. In 1989, she came across a story about a handwritten transcript found in a shoebox. It recorded a case in which then-lawyer Abraham Lincoln successfully defended a man on trial for murder. The article inspired her to write "Of Lincoln."

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NewsHour Extra: Lesson Plan for Teachers

 

February 12, 2009

For Presidents Day (and two days after Valentines Day), here are poems by two presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, that hit on the theme of love.

 

February 9, 2009

Mary Szybist is the author of "Granted" (2003), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is an Assistant Professor of English at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore. In February, Poet Laureate Kay Ryan chose Szybist and Christina Davis for the 2009 Witter Bynner Fellowships.

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February 2, 2009

In honor of the Steelers' Super Bowl victory, we've gone into the Poetry Series archive for "Pittsburgh" by Terrance Hayes.

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January 26, 2009

The image of poetry fans gathered in a pub enjoying bagpipes, haggis, drinks and verse is a very Scottish one, but Scotland's national poet Robert Burns has fans worldwide who know there's no better way to honor the man and his writing.

Weekly Poem: 'A Man's A Man for A' That

Elizabeth Alexander Elizabeth Alexander
Poet

January 13, 2009

Only a few poets have participated in the swearing-in ceremony for our nation's highest office, and on Jan. 20, Elizabeth Alexander will become just the fourth to hold that honor when she will recite an original poem at President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.

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Video: Elizabeth Alexander Reads at Barack Obama's Inauguration
NewsHour Extra: Lesson Plan for Teachers

 

January 16, 2009

The largest poetry festival in North America has just become the latest victim of the financial crisis. The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation announced Friday in a letter to supporters that it will cancel the next Dodge Poetry Festival, slated to take place in the fall of 2010.

 

January 12, 2009

Sean Norton is the author of the book of poems, "Bad With Faces," from Red Morning Press. He lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he is the Assistant Director of the University of Michigan's Graduate Creative Writing Program.

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January 5, 2009

Elizabeth Alexander was born in Harlem, raised in Washington, D.C., and attended Yale University, where she teaches African American Studies. She is the author of four books of poetry, including her most recent, "American Sublime," a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

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W.S. Merwin W.S. Merwin
Poet

December 29, 2008

W.S. Merwin is one of the nation's greatest living poets and is the author of more than 50 books. In a house he built on the Hawaiian island of Maui, he cultivates his other life long passion: gardening.

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Art Beat: W.S. Merin Reads 'Rain Light.'


December 24, 2008

Elizabeth Alexander has been chosen to read a poem at President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony, the first time since 1997 a poet will take part in the swearing-in ceremony. As millions watch, Alexander will present an original work.


December 22, 2008

Jason Gray is the author of "Photographing Eden," winner of the 2008 Hollis Summers Prize, as well as two chapbooks, "How to Paint the Savior Dead" and "Adam & Eve Go to the Zoo." He co-edits the online journal, Unsplendid and reviews poetry on his blog, Line Art.

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November 19, 2008

Through verse, members of the Spoken Word Club at the Santa Fe Indian School articulate identities both modern and traditional, and maintain links to the past through native language and culture.

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November 7, 2008

In the week that Americans cast their ballots and elected Sen. Barack Obama to the presidency, J.D. McClatchy, a professor, poet and critic, reads "Election Day," a poem about voting.

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Kwame Dawes Kwame Dawes
Poet

October 8, 2008

Poet Kwame Dawes teamed up with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to create a Web site called "HOPE: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica." The site pairs his poetry with music, essays and video from people living with the disease and their caretakers.

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NewsHour Extra: Lesson Plan for Teachers

Lawson Inada Lawson Inada
Poet

October 3, 2008

Along with more than 100,000 other Japanese-Americans, Lawson Inada was sent to internment camps for the duration of World War II. He was one of the youngest to live in the camps, and much of his writing addresses that childhood experience.

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Ricardo Pau-Llosa Ricardo Pau-Llosa
Poet

July 25, 2008

Ricardo Pau-Llosa, a prolific Miami-based poet and critic of Latin American art, remembers the colors, tastes and memories that shaped his youth and his writing, taking him back to his native Cuba.

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NewsHour Extra:
Lesson Plan for Teachers

Kay Ryan Kay Ryan
Poet Laureate

July 17, 2008

The Library of Congress announced the appointment of Kay Ryan as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2008-09. The native Californian and author of six books of poetry writes poems regarded for their wit and unusual perspectives and wisdom.


June 16, 2008

For more than 30 years, poet and professor Richard Shelton has traveled to a high security prison in Arizona to run a program that encourages prisoners to write and read poetry. Shelton writes of his experiences in his memoir, "Crossing the Yard."

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Frances Richey Frances Richey
Poet

May 9, 2008

"The Warrior" by Frances Richey is composed of 28 poems written by the poet to her son, Ben, a Green Beret who has served two tours of duty in Iraq. Jeffrey Brown speaks with Richey and her son about the collection and their unique perspectives on the war.

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Robert Hass Robert Hass
Poet and Pulitzer Prize winner

April 30, 2008

"Time and Materials" by Robert Hass won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, becoming the first book of poetry since 1983 to win both the Pulitzer and the National Book Award. Hass talks about the collection.

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Insider Forum: Hass Answers Your Questions About Poetry

Terrance Hayes Terrance Hayes
Poet and professor

April 24, 2008

Terrance Hayes is the author of three books of poetry and is a professor of Creative Writing at Carnegie Mellon University. He discusses life as a poet in Pittsburgh, "where no one is a stranger," and shares some of his work.

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Mary Jo Bang Mary Jo Bang
Poet and professor

April 10, 2008

Mary Jo Bang is professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program at Washington University. Her fifth book, "Elegy," which won of the National Book Critics Circle Award, examines the pain and grief following the death of her son.

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Li-Young Lee Li-Young Lee
Celebrated poet

March 3, 2008

Li-Young Lee was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents who had been exiled from China. After fleeing the regime of Indonesian President Sukarno in 1959 through Hong Kong, Macau and Japan, his family settled in the United States in 1964.

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February 14, 2008

The Library of America is publishing the collected works and letters of celebrated poet Elizabeth Bishop -- marking the first time it has done so for a woman poet. Two of Bishop's friends discuss and read her work.

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John Ashbery John Ashbery
Celebrated poet

December 31, 2007

The winner of nearly every major American award for poetry, John Ashbery's substantial body of work has led many to consider him one of the nation's most important writers of the last half century. His most recent book, "A Worldly Country," was published this year.

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Elizabeth Samet Elizabeth Samet
Professor and author

November 21, 2007

At the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Professor Elizabeth Samet's upper level poetry seminar unearths the creative side of soldiers-in-training. Jeffrey Brown looks at Samet's use of poetry and her new book, "Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point."

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Baseball Karen Zaborowski Duffy
Poet, teacher and baseball fan

October 25, 2007

Karen Zaborowski Duffy is a lifelong Philadelphia Phillies fan. Although her beloved team was not in this year's World Series, she shares a poem about being at the event with her daughter.

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October 22, 2007

It's no surprise there's not a lot of money to be made in poetry. So how in a commercial culture like ours does so much of it get published? One answer can be found a few hours outside Seattle, where Copper Canyon has been putting out books for 35 years.

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Charles Simic Charles Simic
15th Poet Laureate of the United States

September 26, 2007

Charles Simic was named Poet Laureate last month by the Library of Congress. Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, he has authored 18 books of poetry and won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer. Simic reflects on his craft.

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Insider Forum: New Poet Laureate Discusses His Craft

Joy Harjo Joy Harjo
Poet and musician

August 23, 2007

Joy Harjo is an internationally known poet, writer and musician. Born into the Muskogee Creek Nation in Oklahoma, Harjo's poetry, song and saxophone music honor the Native American spirit.

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August 2, 2007

The Library of Congress appointed Charles Simic, whose work is known for its surrealism, dark humor and irony, as its 15th poet laureate. The author of 18 books of poetry, Simic takes over the position from Donald Hall, who has served since 2006.

Paul Hunter Paul Hunter
Poet and artist

July 9, 2007

Paul Hunter, a poet, musician, instrument-maker, teacher, and editor and publisher, has produced letterpress books and broadsides under the imprint of Wood Works Press in Seattle. He talks about his works.

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Gregory Djanikian Gregory Djanikian
Poet and professor

July 4, 2007

Gregory Djanikian, director of the creative writing program at the University of Pennsylvania, reads a poem about how immigrants "might contribute to the great melting pot of the English language."

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Jack Prelutsky Jack Prelutsky
Children's Poet Laureate

May 11, 2007

Jack Prelutsky, named the first children's poet laureate by the Poetry Foundation, which also helps fund the NewsHour's poetry coverage, talks about his young readers and shares some of his works from "Good Sports."

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Natasha Trethewey Natasha Trethewey
Professor and Pulitzer Prize winner

April 25, 2007

Natasha Trethewey, who spoke to the NewsHour last year, has won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her book, "Native Guard." She catches up with Jeffrey Brown about her book, winning the Pulitzer and her hometown of Gulfport, Miss., which was crippled by Hurricane Katrina.

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April 17, 2007

Nikki Giovanni is a professor of English at Virginia Tech, where she has taught since 1987, and is the author of 15 books of poetry. She gave the closing remarks at the Virginia Tech Convocation following the campus shootings. "We are Virginia Tech," Giovanni said. "We are brave enough to bend to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again."

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Jerusalem Poetry of the Middle East
Israeli and Palestinian poets

March 21, 2007

Poets in Middle Eastern societies are often held in high regard, and many achieve a level of celebrity and authority not common in the West. Senior correspondent Jeffrey Brown travels to Israel and the occupied territories to provide insight into the lives of Israeli and Palestinian poets, writers in a place of conflict providing a voice for those who feel they don't have one.

Kevin Young Kevin Young
Poet and professor

March 1, 2007

Emory University professor and poet Kevin Young has released a collection of poems, titled "For the Confederate Dead," about returning to the South and "wrestling with some of the demons of history and war."

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Brad LeithauserMary Jo Salter Brad Leithauser
and Mary Jo Salter

Poets and professors

February 14, 2007

Two married poets have taken a new approach to crafting their works, participating in a Web experiment that forces them to write their poems in just 15 minutes. On Valentine's Day, the husband and wife team write love poems to one another via the site.

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Galway Kinnell Galway Kinnell
Former Pulitzer Prize winning poet and professor

December 15, 2006

Poet Galway Kinnell reads "Why Regret?" a poem from his latest book about "engaging ourselves with the common acts, the ordinary things, the other creatures."

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Robert Wrigley Robert Wrigley
Poet and University of Idaho professor

November 6, 2006

Poet Robert Wrigley of Moscow, Idaho, reads a new poem called "Partisan," capturing the frustration, anger and joy of the voting experience.

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Donald Hall Donald Hall
14th Poet Laureate of the United States

October 16, 2006

New U.S. poet laureate Donald Hall gives a tour of his New Hampshire farm where he has written poetry for over 30 years. He also reads poems on nature, love and loss, suggests that poetry is becoming more popular and explores the art of saying the unsayable.

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Lucille Clifton Lucille Clifton
Free verse poet focusing on race and gender

September 8, 2006

Free verse poet Lucille Clifton reads "September Songs, A Poem in Seven Days" about the days surrounding Sept. 11, 2001 which included the terrorist attacks and the birth of her granddaughter.

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Alberto Rios Alberto Rios
Has been called the "best Latino poet writing in English"

August 17, 2006

Poet Alberto Rios reads from his latest book of poetry "The Theater of Night" which follows a couple in a U.S.-Mexico border town through their youth, marriage and thoughtful old age.

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Kay Ryan Kay Ryan
Noted poet and English teacher

July 26, 2006

Award-winning poet Kay Ryan describes her writing process as "self imposed emergencies" and reads some selections from her new collection, "The Niagara River."

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Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen
Cultural icon, musician, novelist, poet

June 28, 2006

Iconic writer and poet Leonard Cohen discusses the difference between writing a song and a poem, and explains why "Out of the thousands who are known or want to be known as poets, maybe one or two are genuine and the rest are fakes."

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June 2, 2006

Students compete in the National Poetry Out Loud, the first annual poetry recitation contest.

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Natasha Trethewey Natasha Trethewey
Mississippi-born poet returns post-Katrina

May 12, 2006

Poet Natasha Trethewey recently returned to the coast of Mississippi, where she was born, to witness the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the landmarks she elegized in her book "Native Guard."

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May 9, 2006

The editor of the newly revised "Oxford Book of American Poetry," David Lehman, discusses his decision to include more African American poets and the disconnect between the creation and the consumption of poetry.

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Claudia Emerson Claudia Emerson
2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winner

May 4, 2006

Poet Claudia Emerson talks about winning the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the writing process, and the themes of her new book, "Late Wife."

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Wyatt Prunty Wyatt Prunty
Vietnam Veteran, English professor and poet

March 21, 2006

Poet Wyatt Prunty, who served in the Navy during Vietnam, wrote a poem entitled "The Returning Dead" in response to the NewsHour's broadcast of photos of American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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March 14, 2006

Poets from across the American West gather in Elko, Nevada to celebrate verse by and about people who still live the life of ranching and rodeo.

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Brian Turner Brian Turner
Poet, teacher and Iraqi war veteran

February 27, 2006

Poet, teacher and construction worker Brian Turner reads from his new book "Here, Bullet," written during his year-long tour in Iraq as an infantry soldier with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat team.

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April 4, 2005

Ted Kooser, National Poet Laureate of the United States, wins the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for his collection of work called "Delights and Shadows."

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November 24, 2003

Jeffrey Brown speaks with C.K. Williams, whose collection "The Singing" won the National Book Award poetry prize.

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May 26, 2003

Jeffrey Brown talks with Paul Muldoon, winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

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October 26, 2001

Lawrence Ferlinghetti speaks about poetry post-September 11.

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August 17, 1999

A look at the national poetry slam, a fusion of performance art and poetry that places young poets in a competition to be the best at delivering their work.

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