Poets & Writers Theater

“What may exist between appearance, and disappearance, between sound and silence, as something that is nearly nothing…” Diana Khoi Nguyen, a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award in poetry, reads from her debut poetry collection, Ghost Of (Omnidawn Publishing, 2018). Nguyen is featured in “Wilder Forms: Our Fourteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February 2019 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Your buttons can’t hold all the love / rippling up the middle of your ribcage…” José Olivarez reads his poem “You Get Fat When You’re in Love” from his debut poetry collection, Citizen Illegal (Haymarket Books, 2018). Olivarez is featured in “Wilder Forms: Our Fourteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February 2019 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Be very patient, even patient with chaos,” Lydia Davis advises writers in this compilation of interviews by Louisiana Channel. Seasoned writers from around the world, including Alaa Al Aswany, Umberto Eco, Richard Ford, Patti Smith, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, also offer their thoughts on how to keep writing.

“I’ve claimed these lives, I’ve claimed these fables, but I made them into my own.” Carly Joy Miller reads from her poetry collection, Ceremonial (Orison Books, 2018), and speaks with Lisa Grove about the use of persona in her work for this Poetry.LA interview.

“In the beginning we were one blood. / Then the body, stem of thorns, grew / its disagreement from the inside / out.” In this Motionpoems film directed by Tom Speers, Peter LaBerge’s poem “Boy Saint” is narrated by Michael McElhatton. LaBerge is the editor in chief of the Adroit Journal and the author of the chapbook Makeshift Cathedral (YesYes Books, 2017).

“I can’t remember the last time / someone commented on my sunny disposition. / That doesn’t mean I’m not trying to juice / the sun for every holy drop.” In this video, Andrea Gibson reads “Living Proof” from their poetry collection Lord of the Butterflies (Button Poetry, 2018) at the Westcott Theater in Syracuse, New York.

“There’s something in the lyric moment that really ruptures the taken for granted-ness of the world.” Meena Alexander discusses her writing process, artistic collaborations, and the sensory experience of being a poet in this 2015 interview for CUNY TV. The author of five books of poetry, including most recently Atmospheric Embroidery (TriQuarterly Books, 2018), Alexander died at the age of sixty-seven on November 21, 2018.

“I do come back to poets from the Caribbean especially, who gave me permission to be a writer.” In this interview with City of Asylum, Kwame Dawes talks about the writers whose work he revisits, his writing routine, and why he doesn’t use the word “inspiration.” Dawes is the editor in chief of Prairie Schooner and is featured in “Telling a Different Story: How to Cultivate Inclusivity at Literary Magazines” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“This poem is not a cry for help. This poem is not my broken pieces. And we are not done yet.” In this HBO documentary, a group of veterans and active-duty service members come together to write a collaborative poem and turn it into a stage performance. The film is directed by Sareen Hairabedian and coproduced by Jeffrey Wright and David Holbrooke.

“My medium is the place where art and poetry find a way to expand into the limitless.” Chilean poet and artist Cecilia Vicuña talks about drawing inspiration from life, death, disappearance, and the energy of New York City, and describes her hopes for her textile installation, “Disappeared Quipu,” at the Brooklyn Museum.

“I am begging: Let me be lonely but not invisible.” This Motionpoems film directed by Mohammed Hammad features Natalie Diaz’s poem “American Arithmetic,” which appeared in the anthology Tales of Two Americas: Stories of Inequality in a Divided Nation (Penguin Books, 2017) edited by John Freeman.

“I was a happy young woman and I just happened to write poetry…” Ntozake Shange speaks about her surprise at the impact of her poetry and the film adaptation of her choreopoem “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf” in this interview with Reelblack at the Art Sanctuary of Philadelphia in 2010. The poet, novelist, and playwright died on October 27, 2018 at the age of seventy.

“It was in the autumn—it felt like the perfect time to do this ritual, when everything’s changing to go to sleep for the winter....” In this interview at the 2018 Louisiana Literature festival in Denmark, CAConrad talks about how performing rituals after their boyfriend’s death gave rise to the poetry in their collection While Standing in Line for Death (Wave Books, 2017), which won the 2018 Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry.

“Maybe every talk about poetry is a defense of poetry,” says Tony Hoagland in this 2011 Chicago Ideas Week talk at the Poetry Foundation on the mind of a poet and how poets explain the world. Hoagland, the author of eight books of poetry and a recipient of the Jackson Poetry Prize, died on October 23 at the age of sixty-four.

“It’s the way we have to connect not only the intellect, but also the heart, to engage the whole body with breath, with rhythm.” Natasha Trethewey, recipient of the 22nd Heinz Award for the Arts and Humanities, talks about the immense value of poetry. Trethewey’s fifth poetry collection, Monument: Poems New and Selected (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Catch whispers in libraries. / Greet strangers with acorns and grapefruit. / Remember eyes, ghosts, smoke. / Watch brothers as they disappear.” Maw Shein Win reads several poems, including “Flower Instructions,” from her debut collection, Invisible Gifts (Manic D Press, 2018), for the Radar Reading series at the San Francisco Public Library in 2017. Win is featured in “5 Over 50” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“It takes facility, it takes brilliance, it takes verve!” Marilyn Chin talks to Joseph Ross about what it takes to write poetry and reads poems from her fifth collection, A Portrait of the Self as Nation: New and Selected Poems (Norton, 2018), which is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

At OneLife Institute’s World Peace Day event, Alice Walker reads “Loving Oakland” from her tenth poetry collection, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart (37 INK, 2018), which is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand / A mighty woman with a torch...” Singer-songwriter Regina Spektor recites Emma Lazarus’s 1883 sonnet “The New Colossus,” and chats with Poetry in America television series host Elisa New about the value of poetry.

“The Poet X is my third novel, but it’s the first one published.” At the New York State Writers Institute, Elizabeth Acevedo speaks about making the transition from poetry to fiction, facing rejection, and learning to persevere in the process of publishing her first novel, The Poet X (HarperTeen, 2018), which is longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award in young people’s literature.