More Than a Weekly Poem: A Conversation and Reading With Poet Laureate Kay Ryan

Known for short, compact writing and for living a very quiet life, Kay Ryan has taken on a big and very public role as the nation’s Poet Laureate. For more than thirty years, Ryan has lived and taught remedial English in Marin County, Calif. Her poems are often praised for their wit, wisdom and brevity.

Ryan was in Washington, D.C., recently to award this year’s Witter Bynner fellowships at the Library of Congress, part of her official duties as Poet Laureate. She sat down for a conversation with Jeffrey Brown and read some of her work.

For more on Ryan, including video of her July 2006 appearance on the NewsHour, visit our Poetry Series. Also, check out poems by this year’s Witter Bynner fellows, Mary Szybist and Christina Davis, who were both recently featured here in Art Beat.