When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through collects the work of more than 160 poets. "A poem opens up time, it opens up memory, it opens up place," says Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate. Continue Read More
Playwright, musician, and author Nate Marshall has a new book of poetry out, called Finna. He says the title comes from the common Southern phrase "fixing to," which is all about what happens next. Continue Reading In ‘Finna,’ Read More
Anaya's 1972 classic Bless Me, Ultima — about a young Mexican American boy and his curandera mentor in New Mexico in the 1940s — inspired a generation of Chicano writers. Continue Reading Rudolfo Anaya, A Founding Father Of Chicano Read More
This year's Pulitzer Prize Board awarded its first Audio Reporting award to the staff of This American Life, for a piece on the Trump administration's "remain in Mexico" policy. Continue Reading 2020 Read More
Kwame Alexander, NPR's poet in residence, reads the latest crowdsourced poem, this one focused on how you've been affected by and coping during the global coronavirus pandemic. Continue Reading ‘If The Trees Can Keep Dancing, So Read More
Yo-Yo Ma has brought joy to listeners for decades with his virtuosic musicianship. Now, he is using his music to offer some comfort to a global audience in the midst of a pandemic that has sparked widespread anxiety and pain. Read More
Poet Natalie Diaz returns, interrogating the lasting effects of colonization asking: If a colonizer's influence can't be eradicated from a culture, how can you push back against violence and erasure? Continue Reading BOOK Read More
Morning Edition's resident poet Kwame Alexander compiled your poems inspired by memories of home, and the final crowdsourced poem is full of rich details of where you're from. Continue Reading ‘Where I’m From’: A Read More
The haiku that listeners sent us about summer evoked all kinds of memories. Some said the season reminds them of ice cream or trips to the beach. Others shared precious memories of young love. Continue Reading Beach Adventures And Falling In Love: Summer Read More
Poet, writer and musician Joy Harjo — a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation — often draws on Native American stories, languages and myths. But she says that she's not self-consciously trying to bring that material into her work. If anything, it's the other way around. Read More
It's that time of the year when we tip our hats — and yours — to the art of the verse. All month, tweet your mini poems with the hashtag #NPRPoetry, and we'll pick some to feature on-air and online. Continue Reading Celebrate National Read More
The Beat Generation icon and owner of City Lights bookstore and press in San Francisco is still writing. He celebrates his centennial March 24, and his new autobiographical novel is out now. Continue Reading A Lost ‘Little Boy’ Read More
Four programs this March examine myriad aspects of women’s history, from poetry. Tina Fey takes you into the hidden world of girls around the world, Meryl Streep narrates a program about how women poets radically changed American poetry, and hear about the women pilots of World War II. More about these programs and when to… Read More
Oliver wasn't always appreciated by critics, but she was still one of the country's most popular poets. In 2012, she told NPR, "Poetry, to be understood, must be clear." Continue Reading Beloved Poet Mary Oliver, Who Believed Poetry Read More
After finishing her degree in CWU’s Professional and Creative Writing program and an MFA from Lindenwood University, the 23-year-old Savannah Slone is releasing her first chapbook, 'Hearing the Underwater,' on January 4 with Finishing Line Press. Read More
Poet Tess Taylor says a good poem can "reroute your day" in under five minutes. She offers suggestions for poetry that "takes you to a different place, and then allows you to return a little altered." Continue Reading Poetry Read More
For the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, writing rhyming poems called calaveras literarias — mocking epitaphs for the dead or satire targeting the living — has become a proud tradition. Continue Reading These Wicked Dia De Los Read More
