DescriptionMeredith's first book, 1944's Love Letter from an Impossible Land, was chosen for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award while the author was a Navy pilot during World War II. Meredith has since won many prizes, including the Pulitzer for his 1987 book, Partial Accounts: New and Selected Poems . He served as Poet Laureate from 1978-1980.
DescriptionA student of W.H. Auden, Hayden's poetry went largely unnoticed until 1966, when he won an international poetry prize and was named Poet Laureate of Senegal. In 1975 he was also named Poet Laureate of the United States. Hayden was a practitioner of Baha'i, whose serenity, reflected in his poetry, was, at one time, widely criticized by the more political voices within the Black community. Here, Hayden reads his poem, "Those Winter Sundays". Sharon Olds was New York State Poet from 1998-2000. She teaches at NYU and lives in New York. Her book Strike Sparks: Selected Poems was published in 2004. She reads her poem, "Wonder".
DescriptionGwendolyn Brooks reads two classic poems: "The Mother" and "We Real Cool". In 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her second book, Annie Allen, which, like her acclaimed first book, A Street in Bronzeville, contained carefully crafted observations of Black life in her native Chicago. In the 1960s, Brooks became highly influenced by the Black Arts Movement and started publishing only with Black-owned publishing companies. Brooks was named Poet Laureate in 1985.
DescriptionElizabeth Bishop is admired for her great technical prowess and her careful observation of everyday objects. A 1955 revision of her 1946 book, North and South, won Bishop a Pulitzer Prize. She also served as Poet Laureate. Often associated with poet Robert Lowell, as they were close friends, Bishop's work is quite different in that she avoided the personal in her poetry.
DescriptionBilly Collins, former United States poet laureate, and Garrison Keillor, host of A Prairie Home Companion, return to the Y to read favorite poems from their new anthologies 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day (Mr. Collins) and Good Poems for Hard Times (Mr. Keillor).
DescriptionIn this exclusive audio publishing event, Billy Collins, former U.S. Poet Laureate, shares an evening of his poetry in a benefit reading for WNYC, New York Public Radio. Often compared to Robert Frost, his poetry has been embraced by people of all ages an…
