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The ‘existential wound’ that fueled poet Natasha Trethewey’s acclaimed career
Natasha Trethewey is a two-time U.S. poet laureate and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her collection “Native Guard.” Now, she has written a memoir about her childhood, the murder of her mother and her own career calling. Titled…
In writing about Trayvon Martin, this poet saw the history of systemic racism
In crafting her elegy for Trayvon Martin, poet Claudia Rankine sought to draw on the larger narrative of “terrorization, violence and murder” that Black Americans have faced throughout history.
How a natural disaster prompted this poet to focus on race in America
Our July 2020 pick for the PBS NewsHour-New York Times book club is Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen.”…
‘Citizen’ is our July book club pick
Our July book club pick for Now Read This is Claudia Rankine's "Citizen: An American Lyric"…
The independent book business has been battered in recent decades, as locally owned sellers strained to compete with the online-giant Amazon. But the COVID-19 crisis has forced many to close their doors, depriving both readers and writers the spaces they…
Poet Tongo Eisen-Martin was born and raised in San Francisco, a city whose rapid gentrification he critiques in his work. Through his writing, Eisen-Martin seeks to “facilitate resistance” to a culture that he believes perpetuates domination of those who are…
To better understand veterans' sacrifice, read their poems.
Joy Harjo, the new poet laureate of the United States, is the first Native American to achieve that honor. Jeffrey Brown recently sat down with Harjo, a member of Oklahoma's Muscogee Creek Nation, in Tulsa to discuss how arts shaped…
Reading and writing can provide a profession, a passion or an escape from reality. In Washington, D.C., the Free Minds Book Club positions the activities as mechanisms through which incarcerated people can express themselves in healthy and constructive ways. As…
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