Poets & Writers Theater
Every day we share a new clip of interest to creative writers—author readings, book trailers, publishing panels, craft talks, and more. So grab some popcorn, filter the theater tags by keyword or genre, and explore our sizable archive of literary videos.
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In this video, Nikki Giovanni reads a selection of her poems and speaks about her life and career for the Wright Conversations series hosted by the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit and PBS Books.
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In this virtual reading hosted by the Oak Spring Garden Foundation and Furious Flower Poetry Center, Lauren K. Alleyne introduces Ashia Ajani, who reads from their debut collection, Heirloom (Write Bloody Publishing, 2023), and Ariana Benson, who reads from their debut collection, Black Pastoral (University of Georgia Press, 2023), winner of the 2022 Cave Canem Poetry Prize.
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In this event hosted by the Townsend Center for the Humanities and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Ocean Vuong talks about his journey through poetry and teaching, how his voice and understanding of genre have changed, and whether or not poetry can change the world in a conversation with Cathy Park Hong. “I’ve always been doubtful of myself, of my work, of my life. But when I’m writing, when I’m inside the poem, I rarely feel true fear,” says Vuong.
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In this 2001 Lannan Foundation event, John Barth speaks about the ways in which self-confidence and temperament play a role in his writing in a conversation with literary critic Michael Silverblatt. Barth died at the age of ninety-three on April 2, 2024. For more from Barth, read “All Trees Are Oak Trees: Introductions to Literature” from the January/February 2004 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Fiction | John Barth | Lanna Foundation | Michael Silverblatt | conversation | 2001 | January/February 2004 | in memoriam -
In this New Orleans Book Festival event, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Ladee Hubbard, and Maurice Carlos Ruffin discuss the rich tradition of Black literature, their literary and ancestral influences, and the power of community building and resistance through writing in a conversation with novelist Louis Edwards.
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In this Left Bank Books virtual event, Diane Seuss reads from her new collection, Modern Poetry (Graywolf Press, 2024), and joins poet Jane Hilberry in a conversation about their fathers, writing practices, and friendship. Seuss is interviewed by Bianca Stone in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Poetry | Diane Seuss | Modern Poetry | Graywolf Press | Jane Hilberry | Left Bank Books | reading | conversation | March/April 2024 -
In this event for the ALOUD series at the Los Angeles Public Library, Sheila Heti reads from her new book, Alphabetical Diaries (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024), in which she arranges ten years of her diaries from A to Z, and discusses her choice to tackle an intimate and long-term project in a conversation with author Michelle Tea.
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“To make ancestors whole is to imagine, collectively, publicly, who they were and what their experiences were like.” In this New York Public Library event, former Cullman Center fellow and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Gregory Pardlo discusses the themes within his latest poetry collection, Spectral Evidence (Knopf, 2024), and talks about interrogating the present-day erasure of Black history in a conversation with Imani Perry.
Tags: Poetry | Gregory Pardlo | Spectral Evidence | Knopf | Imani Perry | New York Public Library | Cullman Center | Cullman Fellowship | conversation | 2024 -
In this Family Action Network event, Ross Gay reads from his latest essay collection, The Book of (More) Delights (Algonquin Books, 2023), and speaks about the practice of writing short essays and playing basketball in a conversation with poet and editor Adrian Matejka.
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“The reason I’m so terrified of what’s happening around me is because I’m so in love with the world.” In this 2023 Lost City Books virtual event, Franny Choi reads from their latest poetry collection, The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On (Ecco, 2023), and discusses the futurist politics of poetry, the present need for Black and Asian solidarity, and the battle between hope and despair in a conversation with Danez Smith.
Tags: Poetry | Franny Choi | The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On | Ecco | Lost City Books | Danez Smith | reading | conversation | 2023 -
In this event celebrating Sandra Cisneros, winner of the 2023 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation’s Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, the author reads from her latest poetry collection, Woman Without Shame (Knopf, 2022), and speaks about her writing career with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.
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In this 2023 event hosted by the Chicago Humanities Festival, Zadie Smith reads from her latest novel, The Fraud (Penguin Press, 2023), and discusses the definition of historical fiction, the relationship between truth and emotion, and the impact of code-switching on her voice-driven writing with poet and novelist Chris Abani.
Tags: Fiction | Zadie Smith | The Fraud | Penguin Press | Chris Abani | Chicago Humanities Festival | 2023 | reading | conversation -
In this One Book, One Chicago event, Tommy Orange discusses the importance of Native American voices, the intricate plotlines of his debut novel, There There (Knopf, 2018), and the historical roots of his forthcoming novel, Wandering Stars, in a conversation with Donna Seaman at the Chicago Public Library.
Tags: Fiction | Tommy Orange | There There | Wandering Stars | Knopf | Chicago Public Library | One Book, One Chicago | conversation | Donna Seaman | 2023 -
In this event hosted by the Korea Society in New York, prolific and award-winning author Yu Miri talks about her family’s history under Japanese occupation, her struggles writing for Japanese and Korean readers as a Zainichi Korean author, and the themes in her latest translated novel, The End of August (Riverhead Books, 2023), translated from the Japanese by Morgan Giles.
Tags: Fiction | Translation | Yu Miri | The End of August | Riverhead Books | Morgan Giles | discussion | conversation | Japanese | Korean | Korea Society | 2023 -
In this 2023 National Book Festival event, Joy Harjo, author of Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years (Norton, 2022), and Camille T. Dungy, author of Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden (Simon & Schuster, 2023), read from their work and discuss writing about nature in a conversation moderated by NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe. Dungy’s essay “Manifest Some Magic: Get Out of Your Own Way and Do the Darn Thing” is included in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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In this virtual reading and conversation, Poets & Writers editor in chief Kevin Larimer introduces the 2023 cohort of “5 Over 50” debut authors, Alma García, author of All That Rises (University of Arizona Press, 2023); Bernardine “Dine” Watson, author of Transplant (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2023); Tommy Archuleta, author of Susto (Center for Literary Publishing, 2023); Chin-Sun Lee, author of Upcountry (Unnamed Press, 2023); and Donna Spruijt-Metz, author of General Release From the Beginning of the World (Parlor Press, 2023).
Tags: Poetry | Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | Kevin Larimer | 5 Over 50 | November/December 2023 | Alma García | Bernadine Watson | Tommy Archuleta | Chin-Sun Lee | Donna Spruijt-Metz | reading | conversation -
In this PEN America event from their 2022 World Voices Festival, authors Jean Guerrero, Omar El Akkad, Ousman Umar, and Yuri Herrera come together for a conversation about border and migrant narratives, the current global crises of displacement, and how literature tells the stories of those often ignored or hidden.
Tags: Poetry | Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | Translation | PEN America | Jean Guerrero | Omar El Akkad | Ousman Umar | Yuri Herrera | discussion | conversation | panel | 2022 -
Palestinian poet and scholar Mosab Abu Toha reads his poems and discusses his life as a writer in Gaza for this 2021 virtual event moderated by Refqa Abu-Remaileh and hosted by the Literatures of Annihilation, Exile, and Resistance research collective and lecture series. The author of the award-winning book Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear (City Lights Books, 2022) was detained by Israeli Defense Forces while trying to leave Gaza after his home was bombed, and was later released.
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Justin Torres reads from his second novel, Blackouts (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023), and joins Melissa Febos for a conversation in this event hosted by the Chicago Public Library and the Women & Children First bookstore. Torres won the 2023 National Book Award in fiction for Blackouts. (This video has been removed by its host.)
Tags: Fiction | Justin Torres | Blackouts | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Melissa Febos | Chicago Public Library | reading | conversation | National Book Award | 2023 -
“It’s very disconcerting to translate oneself, but it’s a kind of pure contact with the work you make.” In this event welcoming Jhumpa Lahiri as the new Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author reads from her new collection, Roman Stories (Knopf, 2023), translated from the Italian by the author and Todd Portnowitz, and joins Brandon Taylor for a conversation about her work.
Tags: Fiction | Translation | Jhumpa Lahiri | Barnard College | Roman Stories | Knopf | Italian | 2023 | Ken Chen | Brandon Taylor | reading | interview | conversation