Feb 25 Watch 2:29 Poet Mahogany L. Browne on 'black girl magic' By PBS News Hour Mahogany L. Browne is a poet and author coordinating the Women of the World Poetry Slam at New York’s Pratt Institute. She gives her Brief But Spectacular take on “Black Girl Magic” and the struggles facing African-American women in modern… Continue watching
Feb 22 Watch A son's poetic tribute to his father's fight for civil rights By PBS News Hour Frank Espada was a man of many vocations: artist, photographer, community organizer, civil rights activist and father. As a Puerto Rican immigrant in 1960s America, he saw and documented first hand the social turbulence of the era. Though he died… Continue watching
Feb 22 Poet Martín Espada chronicles father's fight for Puerto Rican rights By Anne Azzi Davenport Martin Espada, an award-winning poet and former tenant lawyer, grew up watching his father fight for human rights in New York City. Continue reading
Jan 21 'Imagine our helpless feeling' -- a Syrian writer's plea to the world By Corinne Segal Read two new stories from Najat Abdul Samad, a writer living in Syria who has emerged as one of the most striking voices in Syrian literature today. Continue reading
Jan 12 Watch 7:21 Stuck behind bars, a writer found a way to connect to the world By PBS News Hour Reginald Dwayne Betts grew up an honor student with hopes for college, but went to prison at 16 for carjacking, his first run-in with the law. Reading, and poetry in particular, became a comfort and gave him a new identity. Continue watching
Jan 12 Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts on America's 'lost generation' By artsdesk Reginald Dwayne Betts grew up an honor student with hopes for college, but went to prison at 16 for carjacking, his first run-in with the law. Reading, and poetry in particular, became a comfort and gave him a new identity. Continue reading
Jan 11 Watch 8:23 Poetry helps youth at a juvenile detention center find peace By PBS News Hour, Frank Carlson Free Write Jail Arts and Literacy aims to help troubled youths in Chicago’s Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center address their personal issues by writing poetry about their circumstances and upbringing. Jeffrey Brown talks with poet Reginald Dwayne Betts, who… Continue watching
Jan 11 This Chicago program connects incarcerated youth to poetry By artsdesk Free Write Jail Arts and Literacy aims to help troubled youths in Chicago’s Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center address their personal issues by writing poetry about their circumstances and upbringing. Jeffrey Brown talks with poet Reginald Dwayne Betts, who… Continue reading
Jan 11 Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts returns to the city that nearly broke him By Frank Carlson Betts' new book touches on the way he believes institutions -- schools, the police, the judicial system -- helped create a lost generation of young black men. Continue reading
Jan 08 Watch 1:39 Reginald Dwayne Betts reads 'For the city that nearly broke me' By Corinne Segal Continue watching