Mar 15 W.S. Merwin, prize-winning poet of nature, dies at 91 By Hillel Italie, Jennifer Kelleher, Associated Press A Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. poet laureate, Merwin completed more than 20 books. Continue reading
Feb 11 Watch 2:25 Why this poet says there is no 'single story spun on a single tongue' Erica Dawson, a professor and writer, said she was surprised while on book tour recently to be faced with the same question over and over again, about speaking for “the black experience.” Black poets "never went away. We don’t only… Continue watching
Jan 21 How the public domain offers new life to these poetry classics By Lora Strum 2019 marks the first mass copyright expiration in more than two decades, freeing up works like Robert Frost's "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" for academic, creative and commercial use. Continue reading
Dec 28 Watch 3:27 Remembering acclaimed Israeli author Amos Oz Renowned Israeli author Amos Oz has died of cancer at age 79. His novels, essays and short stories made him one of Israel’s most widely read writers, and reportedly, a contender for the Nobel Prize in literature. Throughout his life,… Continue watching
Dec 21 12 gifts of poetry for everyone on your list By Lora Strum Poets and literary editors share a timeless present -- one that never shrinks, breaks or runs out of battery life. Continue reading
Dec 19 Watch 3:06 Poet Franny Choi on the value of imagining alternate realities By Steve Goldbloom What’s the value of asking questions to which we don’t know the answer? Poet Franny Choi’s “Introduction to Quantum Theory” does just that, and she calls it “one of the scariest things” she’s ever written. Choi offers her brief but… Continue watching
Dec 17 Watch 3:07 A poet's take on looking to language for 'radical hope' In this digital and divided society, it can often seem that language is used primarily to deliver criticism and express rage. But poet Ada Limón shares her humble opinion on why she sees people turning to poetry for language that… Continue watching
Nov 02 These wicked Day of the Dead poems don't spare anyone By Lora Strum, Patty Gorena Morales A proposed border wall between the U.S. and Mexico is the product of “the underworld” in one calavera literaria written for the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos. Continue reading
Oct 18 Watch 3:33 Poet Phil Kaye remembers his grandfather and reimagines traditional masculinity By Steve Goldbloom Phil Kaye is a Japanese-American poet and filmmaker and co-director of “Project Voice,” an organization that partners with schools to bring poetry into the classroom. He shares one of his poems, “Surplus,” for a brief but spectacular take on his… Continue watching
Oct 17 In the wake of Hurricane Michael, this poet recognizes the way disaster can change you By Lora Strum Poet Heather Jacobsen can't forget how a hurricane shattered her neighborhood. Those indelible memories appear in her work "City Turned to Inland Lake."… Continue reading