Walt Whitman was inspired after hearing Ralph Waldo Emerson speak, and self-published a book of poems he would continue updating for his entire life. When not writing poetry, he worked as a nurse during the Civil War, and published some unusual exercise advice.
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker is the ONLY woman in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor. H ... Show More
Jul 2020
Radical Imagination: Tracy K. Smith, Marilyn Nelson, and Terrance Hayes on Poetry in Our Times
In a special episode of the Poetry Podcast, Tracy K. Smith, Marilyn Nelson, and Terrance Hayes join Kevin Young to read their work, and to discuss its relationship to protest and liberation.
Tracy K. Smith served two terms as a U.S. poet laureate, and has won an Anisfield-Wolf Bo ... Show More
45m 41s
Aug 2019
'Pick up the book and read': Canadian poets on the legacy of Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison's literary and academic career was honoured with a Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her writing explored, celebrated, questioned and critiqued the space of black lives in America, up until her death on Monday at the age of 88.
Today ... Show More
19m 24s
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