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. Her many honors include the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and the Wallace Stevens Aw ... Show More
Jul 29
Richard Blanco Reads Elizabeth Bishop
Richard Blanco joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “Questions of Travel,” by Elizabeth Bishop, and his own poem, “My Father in English.” Blanco is the author of two memoirs and four poetry collections, including “How to Love a Country” and “Homeland of My Body.” He is the recip ... Show More
49m 38s
Jun 24
Richard Siken Reads Jorie Graham
Richard Siken joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “I Catch Sight of the Now,” by Jorie Graham, and his own poem “Piano Lesson.” Siken is a poet and painter whose book “Crush” won the 2004 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize, a Lambda Literary Award, and a Thom Gunn Award. His ot ... Show More
42 m
May 27
Julia Alvarez Reads Judy Page Heitzman
Julia Alvarez joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill,” by Judy Page Heitzman, and her own poem “Mami at Her Vanity.” Alvarez is the author of many novels, nonfiction books, children’s books, and poetry collections, including ... Show More
39m 4s
Oct 2019
Joy Harjo: An American Sunrise
The first Native American to be named United States Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo discusses her tumultuous life, her career as an award-winning poet and her newest book of poetry, “An American Sunrise.” Joy also talks about reparations, universal connection, her native ancestors and o ... Show More
40m 27s
Jan 2024
Joy Williams Reads “The Beach House”
Joy Williams reads her story “The Beach House,” from the January 15, 2024, issue of the magazine. Williams, a winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, is the author of five story collections, including “Ninety-Nine Stories of God” and “The Visiting Privilege: ... Show More
30m 37s
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
Jun 2025
Jhumpa Lahiri Reads “Jubilee”
Jhumpa Lahiri reads her story “Jubilee,” from the July 7 & 14, 2025, issue of the magazine. Lahiri, a recipient of the National Humanities Medal and the PEN/Malamud Award, among others, is the author of six books of fiction, including the story collections “Interpreter of Maladie ... Show More
50m 11s
Nov 2022
Louise Erdrich Reads “The Hollow Children”
Louise Erdrich reads her story “The Hollow Children,” which appeared in the November 28, 2022, issue of the magazine. Erdrich is the author of more than a dozen works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, most recently “The Sentence” and “The Night Watchman,” which won the Pulitzer ... Show More
20m 27s
Mar 2019
Sally Rooney Reads “Color and Light”
Sally Rooney reads her story “Color and Light,” from the March 18, 2019, issue of the magazine. Rooney is the author of two novels, “Conversations with Friends” and “Normal People,” which was published last year and won the Costa Book Award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi ... Show More
37m 22s
Nov 2022
Two poetry collections find beauty in unexpected places
Poet Franny Choi knows that marginalized communities have been facing apocalypses forever. But in her new book, The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On, she uses their survival as a way to look forward. In this episode, she tells NPR's Leila Fadel how understanding that pai ... Show More
20m 21s
<p><strong>Sharon Olds</strong> (born November 19, 1942) is an American poet. Olds won the first San Francisco Poetry Center Award in 1980,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Olds#cite_note-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[1]</a> the 1984 <a href="https://e ... Show More
