Dec 24 Poetry at Obama’s Inauguration By Arts Desk It has been widely noted that President-elect Barack Obama is a reader of poetry. Only days after winning the election, Mr. Obama was spotted with a copy of Derek Walcott's collected poems. Continue reading
Dec 22 Weekly Poem: ‘Your Art History’ Jason Gray is the author of "Photographing Eden" (Ohio Univ. Press, 2008), winner of the Hollis Summers Prize, as well as two chapbooks, "How to Paint the Savior Dead" (Kent State UP, 2007) and "Adam & Eve Go to the… Continue reading
Jul 17 Kay Ryan Is Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate By PBS News Hour The Library of Congress announced Thursday the appointment of Kay Ryan as the 16th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2008-2009. Continue reading
Apr 24 Watch For Hayes, Pittsburgh and Poetry Are No Strangers 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… Continue watching
Apr 10 Watch Mary Jo Bang Examines Grief’s Poetic Form, the Elegy 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… Continue watching
Mar 03 Watch Poetry of Li-Young Lee Is ‘Descended from Dreamers’ 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… Continue watching
Aug 02 Surreal Wordsmith Simic Named Poet Laureate By PBS News Hour The Library of Congress on Thursday appointed Charles Simic, whose work is known for its surrealism, dark humor and irony, as its 15th poet laureate. Continue reading
Dec 15 Watch Galway Kinnell on the Pleasures of Ordinary Things Poet Galway Kinnell reads "Why Regret?" a poem from his new book about "engaging ourselves with the common acts, the ordinary things, the other creatures."… Continue watching
May 09 Watch Editor of “Oxford Book of American Poetry” Discusses the Anthology 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. Continue watching
Mar 21 Watch Poet Responds to Lists of Americans Killed in Iraq Poet and Vietnam veteran Wyatt Prunty responds in verse to the NewsHour's broadcast of photos of American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Continue watching