Jul 11 Liao Yiwu Liao Yiwu was in his early 30s when he was arrested for writing and performing a poem about the brutality of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. His poem -- simply called "Massacre" -- was an angry, howling rant against… Continue reading
Jul 04 From the NewsHour Archives: Robert Pinsky on the 4th of July A face NewsHour viewers may remember from his many appearances on the program, poet critic Robert Pinsky served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1997 to 2000. In this blog post, Pinsky reads a poem for the Fourth… Continue reading
Jun 18 Ancient Afghan Poetry Form Adapts to Tell Story of Modern Life and Conflict For centuries, Pashtun women have traded stories, feelings and life wisdom in the form of two-line oral poems called landays. Eliza Griswold, a journalist and poet herself, traveled to Afghanistan to learn more about daily life there through the modern… Continue reading
Jun 18 Short, Potent Poetry Offers Bite of Afghan Life By Meredith P. Garretson Journalist and poet Eliza Griswold set out to document Afghan life through the prism of oral folk poems shared mostly among Pashtun women. Seamus Murphy, the London-based photographer and filmmaker who worked with Griswold on the landay project, has been… Continue reading
Jun 10 Hit the Road, Poet Laureate: Trethewey Partners With NewsHour for Second Term U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey joins our own Jeffrey Brown in a series of on-location broadcast reports for the NewsHour. Drawing on the poet's own life experiences, they'll explore, through the framework of poetry, issues that matter to Americans. Continue reading
May 14 Charles Henry Rowell Jeffrey Brown talks with longtime literary editor Charles Henry Rowell about his passion for promoting undiscovered and underappreciated African-American poets and artists. His latest effort is a new anthology called "Angles of Ascent."… Continue reading
May 13 New Anthology Celebrates ‘Ascent’ of African-American Poets Jeffrey Brown talks with longtime literary editor Charles Henry Rowell about his passion for promoting undiscovered and underappreciated African-American poets and artists. His latest effort is a new anthology called "Angles of Ascent."… Continue reading
May 13 Charles Henry Rowell Is ‘Prepared to Do Battle’ Using Poetry By Tom LeGro For nearly four decades, Charles Henry Rowell has been a talent scout of sorts, looking for young and often ignored African-American artists. His latest project is a Norton anthology of contemporary black poets called "Angles of Ascent." Watch some of… Continue reading
Apr 15 ‘Stag’s Leap’ Wins Pulitzer Prize for Poetry "Stag's Leap" by Sharon Olds, won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Pulitzer judges called Olds' collection "a book of unflinching poems on the author's divorce that examine love, sorrow and the limits of self-knowledge."… Continue reading
Apr 02 Poet Gerald Stern Looks Back on a Career Spent Reading and Writing By News Desk Jeffrey Brown talks with Gerald Stern, one of America's most acclaimed poets. At 87, Stern received the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress for his collection, "Early Collected Poems: 1965-1992." Stern reflects on his working class… Continue reading