Remembering Richard Howard as a poet, mentor, and friend, plus a few words on money by Bernadette Mayer.
Feb 2022
This Week in Illinois History: Carl Sandburg named state Poet Laureate (February 28, 1962)
Carl Sandburg, author, journalist, folk singer, and poet of the people, appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois.
1m 49s
Sep 2023
Chapter 9: Grief and Loss
Close friend of Michael Silverblatt’s and Bookworm editor for 30 years, Alan Howard guest hosts this episode on grief and loss. When the two met more than 33 years ago, Michael’s first words were, “What are you reading?” It was a question that brought Howard back to literature. O ... Show More
41m 36s
Sep 2020
Joy Harjo Reads Sandra Cisneros
Joy Harjo joins Kevin Young to read “Still-Life with Potatoes, Pearls, Raw Meat, Rhinestones, Lard, and Horse Hooves,” by Sandra Cisneros, and her own poem “Running.” Harjo is the current Poet Laureate of the United States, as well as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets ... Show More
34m 44s
Apr 2022
Rita Dove — Eurydice, Turning
How do you speak with your mother when she’s forgotten who you are? By turning to myth, it seems, and by holding gentleness with bewilderment, love with patience. Rita Dove lets us overhear a phone call, and in this listening, we hear lifetimes unfold.Rita Dove was U.S. Poet Laur ... Show More
14m 58s
May 2017
David Jones: Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet
Though he was admired by some of the liveliest cultural figures of the twentieth century, David Jones is not known or celebrated in the way that Eliot, Beckett or Joyce have been. Thomas Dilworth's biography - the first full biography of Jones, and thirty years in the making - ai ... Show More
1h 2m
Nov 2021
In a powerful memoir, poet Joy Harjo talks about finding her voice and using it
Poet Laureate Joy Harjo says she loved poetry as a kid, but didn't feel like it belonged to her. "It wasn't until I heard Native poets," she tells NPR's Michel Martin, "that I realized that, wow, this is a powerful tool of understanding and affirmation. And I don't know, I just s ... Show More
8m 41s
Dec 2021
Amanda Gorman Reads Tracy K. Smith
Amanda Gorman joins Kevin Young to read “Declaration,” by Tracy K. Smith, and her own poem “Ship’s Manifest.” Gorman served as the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate, received a 2020 Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and, in 2021, became the youngest ... Show More
34m 31s