Poetry (Video): Recent Episodes
UCTV
Jason Magabo Perez, San Diego's Poet Laureate, engages with UC San Diego's Erik Mitchell in a revealing conversation about his poetic journey and its impact on community and self-awareness. Perez shares readings from his work, which weaves together narratives of grief, identity, and resilience. His ability to articulate complex emotions and historical contexts through poetry provides a window into the experiences of Filipino-American communities and broader societal issues. He also discusses his initiatives as Poet Laureate, emphasizing his commitment to making poetry accessible and relevant to a wide audience. His projects aim to foster a vibrant literary culture in San Diego, highlighting the power of poetry to build solidarity, empower youth, and give voice to marginalized communities. Series: "Writers" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39322]
Filmmaker Sam Kadi joins moderator Juan Campo, professor of religious studies at UC Santa Barbara, for a discussion of the film Lamya’s Poem. Together, they consider how the film employs magical realism to interweave scenes from the lives of contemporary Syrian refugees with the experiences of 13th century poet Rumi. Kadi discusses the uses of animation in crafting a fantastical world, and shares perspectives on the important role of music, a conversation that continued with input from composer Christopher Willis, who was in attendance for the screening. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 39479]
An 800-foot-long stone path of words, KAHNOP • TO TELL A STORY is the 22nd public artwork commissioned by the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego. The text for the UC San Diego walkway draws from the writing of authors and scholars with ties to the University and its history. Organized by a spine of keywords composed by Ann Hamilton, this concordance of documents weaves together threads of thinking from many different disciplines. The piece was built line by line, rather than as a singular continuous narrative, and yet clear themes emerge and recur throughout the 1,300-line composition. A feminist narrative transcribed by two Kumeyaay scholars exists in bands situated at a regular interval throughout the entire length of the piece, creating its own cadence and rhythm within the larger whole. These juxtapositions form a field of text and an infinite number of paths to be composed and recomposed every time someone walks its surface. Series: "Stuart Collection at UC San Diego" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 39374]
An 800-foot-long stone path of words, KAHNOP • TO TELL A STORY is the 22nd public artwork commissioned by the Stuart Collection at UC San Diego. The text for the UC San Diego walkway draws from the writing of authors and scholars with ties to the University and its history. Organized by a spine of keywords composed by Ann Hamilton, this concordance of documents weaves together threads of thinking from many different disciplines. The piece was built line by line, rather than as a singular continuous narrative, and yet clear themes emerge and recur throughout the 1,300-line composition. A feminist narrative transcribed by two Kumeyaay scholars exists in bands situated at a regular interval throughout the entire length of the piece, creating its own cadence and rhythm within the larger whole. These juxtapositions form a field of text and an infinite number of paths to be composed and recomposed every time someone walks its surface. Series: "Stuart Collection at UC San Diego" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 38928]
Poet, novelist and Native American scholar N. Scott Momaday has spent decades bringing his culture and the landscape alive through his writing. He received a Pulitzer Prize for his first novel, "House Made of Dawn." His books include "The Way to Rainy Mountain," "In the Bear's House," "In the Presence of the Sun: Stories and Poems, 1961-1991," and "The Gourd Dancer." He is also the editor of various anthologies and collections centered on his Kiowa heritage. As part of the Writer's Symposium By the Sea, host Dean Nelson sat down with Momaday at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to talk about his life in literature. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Show ID: 38122]
Our series of bringing arts and humanities practice to medicine continues with Thomas Dooley, poet-in-residence at the Center for Compassionate Communication at UC San Diego's Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion. Series: "Let's Jam: The Arts in Medicine" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 37987]
Should your art send you to prison? Rap lyrics are increasingly turning up as evidence in courtrooms across the country. The fictional characters portrayed in violent gansta rap songs are often a far cry from the true personalities of the artists behind them, yet uninitiated audiences easily conflate artist with character and fiction with fact. On a broader scale, using rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases also raises questions about artistic freedom, freedom of speech and the rights of all citizens to receive a fair trial. UC Irvines Charis E. Kubrin, Ph.D and Adam Dunbar explore these issues. Series: "Zot Talks" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 31368]
Emmanuel Jal, an internationally recognized hip-hop musician, former child soldier turned activist and entrepreneur, shares his story and music. Jal was born into the life of a child solider in the early 1980s in the war-torn region of Southern Sudan. He calls upon all of us to engage with our world and become global citizens through scholarship, leadership and service. [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 33490]
Yusef Komunyakaa, an internationally renowned poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for “Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems," reads and discusses his work while writer-in-residence at UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Voices" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 32148]
Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky describes himself as a "composer" who considers poetry to be first and foremost a vocal art, and his work seeks to blur the distinctions between language and music by emphasizing the rhythms and innate physicality of recited verse in a jazz context. In this performance for the 22nd Writer's Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University, Pinsky's reading is accompanied by a talented trio of PLNU students. The music - a blend of rehearsed and improvised - employs a variety of jazz styles, sometimes sympathetic and sometimes in playful counterpoint, but always responsive to the poet's distinctive voice. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 30820]
UC Berkeley professors, Robert and Sally Goldman, led the 40-year project to translate the Sanskrit epic poem Valmiki Ramayana to modern English. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Humanities] [Show ID: 31985]
New Orleans native Sunni Patterson is an internationally-known Def poetry artist and activist. She is joined in a conversation with George Lipsitz and David Kim about her music and poetry, and her life reaching, teaching and healing. Series: "Voices" [Humanities] [Show ID: 31570]
New Orleans native Sunni Patterson powerfully recites one of her many poems. Series: "Voices" [Humanities] [Show ID: 31630]
Poet Nikki Giovanni reads a selection of her poems as part of the 2016 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Show ID: 30819]
Author, spoken word artist, poet, essayist, professor, Nikki Giovanni has been electrifying audiences for more than 40 years, earning her one of Oprah Winfrey’s Living Legends distinctions. She delivers here as well, with a passionate and engaging performance and interview with host Dean Nelson of Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29674]
One of the year’s most lively events, the student reading includes winners of the following prizes: Academy of American Poets, Cook, Rosenberg, and Yang, as well as students nominated by Berkeley’s creative writing faculty, Lunch Poems volunteers, and representatives from student publications. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 29740]
Joshua Weiner is the author of three books of poetry, most recently, The Figure of a Man Being Swallowed by a Fish (2013). He is also the editor of At the Barriers: On the Poetry of Thom Gunn, and the poetry editor at Tikkun magazine. He is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award, the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a 2014 fellowship from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, among others. A professor of English at the University of Maryland, he lives with his family in Washington DC. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29365]
Jane Hirshfield's eighth poetry book, The Beauty, appears from Knopf in early 2015, along with a new book of essays, Ten Windows. Previous books include Come, Thief (Knopf, 2011) and After (2006), named a best book of the year by The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Financial Times (UK). She has also written a book of essays, Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry and edited and co-translated four books of work by world poets of the past. Her honors include The Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, finalist selection for the National Book Critics Circle Award, England's T. S. Eliot Prize, and fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, the Academy of American Poets, and the National Endowment for the Arts. A frequent presenter at universities and literary festivals both in the US and abroad, in 2012 she was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 29540]
Harmony Holiday is a poet, dancer, and archivist, mythscientist and the author of Negro League Baseball (Fence, 2011), Go Find Your Father/ A Famous Blues (Ricochet, 2014), and “Hollywood Forever” (Fence, 2015). She reads to an audience at UC Berkeley. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29488]
Maria Hummel is the author of the award-winning poetry collection “House and Fire“ and of two novels, “Motherland” and “Wilderness Run.” Her poetry, fiction, and nonfiction have appeared in Poetry, New England Review, Narrative, The Sun, The New York Times, and the anthology The Open Door: 100 Poems, 100 Years of Poetry Magazine. Series: "Story Hour in the Library" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29366]
Gillian Conoley was born in Austin Texas, where, on its rural outskirts, her father and mother owned and operated a radio station. She is the author of seven collections of poetry. She is Professor and Poet-in-Residence at Sonoma State University. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29108]
Robin Robertson is from the Northeast coast of Scotland. He has published five collections of poetry—most recently Hill of Doors—and received a number of accolades, including the Petrarch Prize, the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Cholmondeley Award, and all three Forward Prizes. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29009]
UC Berkeley Executive Director of Visitor and Parent Services La Dawn Duvall reads Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman.” Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29005]
UC Berkeley Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students Joseph Defraine Greenwell reads Maya Angelou’s poem “Alone.” Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29006]
UC Berkeley Professor of Environmental History, Philosphy and Ethics Carolyn Merchant reads David Iltis’ poem “The Lesson” Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29007]
In partnership with City Lights Books, who first published Frank O’Hara’s “Lunch Poems” 50 years ago, this special event features readings from a newly expanded edition that also includes communiqués by O’Hara pulled from the City Lights archive housed at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. Participants include: Jayne Gregory, Robert Hass, Owen Hill, Elaine Katzenberger, Evan Klavon, Giovanni Singleton, Julianna Spahr, Joseph Bush and Matthew Zapruder. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 28889]
Hosted by Robert Hass and University Librarian Thomas C. Leonard, this event features distinguished faculty and staff from a wide range of disciplines introducing and reading a favorite poem. This year’s participants: La Dawn Duvall (Visitor & Parent Services), Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students Joseph Defraine Greenwell, Steven Finacom (Capital Projects), Alex Mastrangeli (English), Steve Mendoza (University Library), Carolyn Merchant (Environmental Science, Policy, & Management), Associate University Librarian Erik Mitchell, Shannon L. Monroe (University Library), and Kimmen Sjölander (Bioengineering) Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 28830]
UC Berkeley Bioengineering Professor Kimmen Sjölander reads “Keeping Quiet” by Pablo Neruda. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29008]
Rowan Ricardo Phillips, award-winning poet, literary and art critic, and translator reads to an audience at UC Berkeley. His first collection of poems, “The Ground: Poems” was published in 2013. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 28137]
The annual student reading includes winners of the following prizes: Academy of American Poets, Cook, Rosenberg, and Yang, as well as students nominated by Berkeley’s creative writing faculty, Lunch Poems volunteers, and representatives from student publications. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 28341]
UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennet reads “The Journey” by Mary Oliver. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27812]
UC Berkeley Dean & Professor of Forest Economics Keith Gilless reads "The Rhodora" by Ralph Waldo Emerson Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27815]
UC Berkeley professor Timothy Hampton reads the poem “Of All Works” by Bertolt Brecht. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27818]
Leonore Wilson is Poet Laureate of Napa Valley and author of “Western Solstice” published by Hiraeth Press. She has received fellowships from Villa Montalvo Center of the Arts and University of Utah. Her poems have appeared in Quarterly West, Madison Review, Third Coast, Unruly Catholic Women Writers Poets Against the War, and TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 28051]
UC Berkeley’s Dylan Hendricks reads “I Carry Your Heart With Me” by E. E. Cummings. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27819]
Zubair Ahmed was born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In 2005, his family won the Diversity Visa Lottery, which granted them the opportunity to immigrate to the US. During the year-and-a-half before moving, he became a professional video gamer and then moved to Duncanville, Texas where he finished high school. Ahmed now studies mechanical engineering and creative writing at Stanford University. He is a member of the Stanford Solar Car Team, president of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors Society, and has recently delved into business and startups. City of Rivers, published by McSweeney’s, is his highly praised debut collection of poems. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27725]
Cynthia Cruz’s poems have been published in the New Yorker, Paris Review, Boston Review, American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review and others. Her first collection of poems, RUIN, was published by Alice James Book and her second collection, “The Glimmering Room,” was published by Four Way Books in 2012. She has received fellowships from Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony as well as a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University. Her third collection of poems, Wunderkammer, is from Four Way Books in 2014. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 26024]
UC Berkeley Professor Emerita Patricia Penn Hilden reads “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways” by Louise Erdrich [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27820]
UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas B. Dirks reads from Seamus Heaney's "Verses for a Fordham Commencement". Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27813]
Linda Gregerson is the author of five books of poetry, most recently The Selvage (2012). Her many honors include awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and Mellon Foundations, the Kingsley Tufts poetry endowment. Her third book, Waterborne, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Gregerson is Caroline Walker Bynum Distinguished University Professor at the University of Michigan. She reads to an audience at UC Berkeley. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27967]
UC Berkeley assistant professor Keith P. Feldman reads from Mahmoud Darwish’s “Memory for Forgetfulness”. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27814]
UC Berkeley’s Maria Mavroudi reads the poem “Bouzouki” by A. E. Stallings. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27821]
UC Berkeley’s Jane Youn reads the poem “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop. [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 27823]
Award winning writer and poet C. S. Giscombe reads a poem before an audience at UC Berkeley, where he also teaches English. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25625]
This reading is a special event celebrating the first anthology of Burmese poetry in English translation in more than fifty years. At a time of political transformation in Myanmar, Zeyar Lynn, poet, essayist, and translator presents his work from “Bones Will Crow: 15 Contemporary Burmese Poets.” Lynn is widely regarded as the most influential living poet in Myanmar and a translator of many Western poets, including Sylvia Plath, John Ashbery, and Charles Bernstein. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25925]
Hosted by Robert Hass and University Librarian Thomas C. Leonard, this event features distinguished faculty and staff from a wide range of disciplines introducing and reading a favorite poem. This year’s participants: Police Chief Margo Bennett, Chancellor Nicholas B. Dirks, Keith P. Feldman (Ethnic Studies), Dean Keith Gilless (College of Natural Resources), Alexander Givental (Mathematics), Timothy Hampton (Comparative Literature), Associate Director of Administration Dylan Hendricks, Patricia Penn Hilden (Native American History & Comparative Ethnic Studies), Maria Mavroudi (Byzantine History & Classics), Water Quality Program Manager Tim Pine (Office of Environment, Health & Safety), and Financial Analyst Jane Youn (English) Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25863]
Juan Felipe Herrera presents recent works before attendees of the Global Food Systems Forum and ANR Statewide Conference at Ontario, California. Series: "University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25742]
Lyn Hejinian,the author of numerous books, reads at UC Berkeley. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25628]
Aaron Shurin is the author of eleven books of poetry and prose, most recently Citizen, a collection of prose poems and King of Shadows, a collection of personal essays. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25629]
A reading of “ascension” by Giovanni Singleton. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25643]
One of the year’s most lively events, the student reading includes winners of the following prizes: Academy of American Poets, Cook, Rosenberg, and Yang, as well as students nominated by Berkeley’s creative writing faculty, Lunch Poems volunteers, and representatives from student publications. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 24352]
California Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera shares stories and life lessons from his father. [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 25525]
Award winning writer and poet C. S. Giscombe has written many poems, books, and plays. He was the 2010 recipient of the Stephen Henderson Award given by the African American Literature and Culture Society. His poetry book Prairie Style won a 2008 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. Two of his recent plays (Lycanthropes/ Entre Chien et Loup and Lycanthropes/ Loup-Garou!) have been produced in San Francisco. Back Burner, a collection of essays about poetry, color, transportation, cooking, etc., will be published in 2013. He teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24351]
Cathy Park Hong's first book, Translating Mo'um, was published in 2002 by Hanging Loose Press. Dance Dance Revolution, her second collection, received the Barnard Women Poets Prize. Her third and most recent book of poems, Engine Empire, was published in May, 2012. Hong is also the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. She lives in Brooklyn and is an Associate Professor at Sarah Lawrence College. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24349]
Lyn Hejinian is the author of numerous books, including most recently The Book of a Thousand Eyes and The Wide Road, written in collaboration with Carla Harryman. In fall 2012, Wesleyan University Press published A Guide to Poetics Journal: Writing in the Expanded Field 1982-1998, an anthology of works on key issues in poetics first published in Poetics Journal, co-edited by Hejinian and Barrett Watten. And in fall 2013 Wesleyan will republish her best-known book, My Life, in an edition that will include her related work, My Life in the Nineties. In addition to literary writing, editing, and translating, she has in recent years been involved in anti-privatization activism at the University of California, Berkeley, where she teaches. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24350]
American poet Billy Collins reads a selection of humorous poems for appreciative audience in this keynote event of the 2013 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24992]
American Poet Billy Collins reads “The Sandhill Cranes of Nebraska” at the 2013 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24994]
American Poet Billy Collins reads “A Dog on His Master” and “The Revenant” at the 2013 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24995]
American poet Billy Collins reads a selection of humorous poems and then discusses the craft of writing with Dean Nelson and an appreciative audience in this keynote event of the 2013 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24601]
American Poet Billy Collins reads “Divorce” at the 2013 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24996]
Aaron Shurin is the author of eleven books of poetry and prose, most recently Citizen, a collection of prose poems and King of Shadows, a collection of personal essays. His writing has appeared in over thirty national and international anthologies, and has been translated into seven languages. Shurin’s honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Gerbode Foundation. He lives in San Francisco. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24348]
Kathleen Fraser’s newest collection, m o v a b l e TYYPE, foregrounds texts from four recently produced Artist Books. Her collected essays, Translating the Unspeakable: Poetry and the Innovative Necessity, is in its second printing. She edited and co-founded the journal HOW(ever) and in 2001, launched its on-line version, How2. While director of The Poetry Center, Fraser founded The American Poetry Archives at San Francisco State University where she taught in the Graduate Writing Program for 20 years. Her honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and two NEA fellowships. She has published 16 volumes of poetry and seven collaborative Artist Books, recently collected by the Bienecke Library at Yale. Her work has been translated widely in Italian and French. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24346]
Hosted by Robert Hass and University Librarian Thomas C. Leonard, this event features distinguished faculty and staff from a wide range of disciplines introducing and reading a favorite poem. This year’s participants: Justin Brasheres (Environmental Science), Associate Chancellor and Chief of Staff Beata Fitzpatrick, Donna V. Jones (English), Vice Provost Catherine Koshland (Teaching, Learning, Academic Planning and Facilities), Director Lawrence Rinder (Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive), Colleen Rovetti (University Relations), Debarati Sanyal (French), Associate Director Sanchita Saxena (Center for South Asia Studies), Director Alix Schwartz (Academic Planning for the College of Letters & Science), David Sklansky (Law), and Andrew Stewart (Classics) Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 24345]
One of the year’s most lively events, the student reading includes winners of the following prizes: Academy of American Poets, Cook, Rosenberg, and Yang, as well as students nominated by Berkeley’s creative writing faculty, Lunch Poems volunteers, and representatives from student publications.
Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 22620]
Richard Berengarten (aka Richard Burns) was born in London in 1943. The author of more than twenty books, Berengarten has been something of a maverick in contemporary British poetry. Two of his books are regarded as contemporary classics: “The Manager” and “The Blue Butterfly,” an elegy for victims of a Nazi massacre in former Yugoslavia. A book of essays about his work, “The Salt Companion to Richard Berergarten,” has recently appeared. He is a Bye-Fellow at Downing College, Cambridge. This is his first reading in the Bay Area in almost twenty years. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 22619]
This reading celebrates the publication of “ascension,” the first book of poems by giovanni singleton, coordinator of Lunch Poems. She has recently been selected by the Poetry Society of America for its biennial New American Poets series. singleton is a recipient of a New Langton Bay Area Award Show for Literature and has been a fellow at Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Cave Canem: A Workshop for African-American Poets, and the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference. She is founding editor of “nocturnes (re)view,” a critically acclaimed journal dedicated to artists and writers of the African Diaspora and other contested spaces. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 22617]
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon was awarded the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for Black Swan, her debut collection of poems that mixes vernacular language with classical mythology, modern struggles with Biblical trials, and gives voice to women past and present. With her second, ]Open Interval[, nominated for the 2009 National Book Award, Van Clief-Stefanon “marries a wildness of vision with a lens-maker’s precision.” She is co-author, with Elizabeth Alexander, of the chapbook Poems in Conversation and a Conversation. She is currently working on a third collection of poetry, The Coal Tar Colors. She lives in Ithaca, New York and teaches at Cornell University. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 22616]
Clayton Eshleman, American poet, translator, and editor, reads from his recently released translation “Solar Throat Slashed,” by Aimé Césaire, co-translated with A. James Arnold. Césaire, a strong anticolonialist, was born in the Caribbean and wrote his poems and plays in French. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 22615]
Born in San Francisco, Robert Haas is a California poet but his poetry, translations, and essays reveal an intimacy that transcends the borders of states and nations. With his direct clarity and promotion of literacy in “places where poets don’t go,” he served two years as U. S. Poet Laureate (1995-97). His numerous books include “Sun Under Wood,” “Time and Materials,” and “The Apple Trees at Olema: New and Selected Poems.” Hass’s numerous accolades include the MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, two National Book Critics' Circle Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize. Hass has translated many of the works of Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet, Czeslaw Milosz. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 22614]
Hosted by Robert Hass and University Librarian Thomas C. Leonard, distinguished faculty and staff from a wide range of disciplines introduce and read a favorite poem. This year’s participants: Ronelle Alexander (Slavic Languages and Literatures), Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer, Myrtis Cochran (Reference Services), George Jaqua (Physical Plant), Trinh T. Minh-ha (Rhetoric and Gender & Women’s Studies), Michael L. Palmer (Summer Sessions), Kent Puckett (English), Samuel J. Redman (Regional Oral History). Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 22613]
UC Berkeley students read original poetry at the close of Lunch Poems for 2011. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 19353]
Geoffrey G. O’Brien is the author of “Green and Gray” and “The Guns and Flags Project,” and co-author of “2A.” His third collection, “Metropole,” is forthcoming from The University of California Press in 2011. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 19352]
Poet, visual artist and teacher Truong Tran, is the author of several publications including, “The Book of Perceptions,” “Placing The Accents,” “dust and conscience,” “within the margin” and “Four Letter Words.” Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 19351]
Hosted by Robert Hass and University Librarian Thomas C. Leonard, this event features distinguished faculty and staff from a wide range of disciplines introducing and reading a favorite poem. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 19347]
Charlotte, North Carolina native Indigo Moor has authored two books of poetry. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 19349]
Camille Dungy is the author of two poetry collections and teaches creative writing at San Francisco State University. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 19350]
A diverse group of storytellers gathers to explore how stories about Haiti are told. Explore the poetry of Haiti. Series: "Haiti Stories/Istwa Ayiti" [Humanities] [Show ID: 20918]
The student reading includes winners of the following prizes: Academy of American Poets, Cook, Rosenberg, and Yang, as well as students nominated by Berkeley’s creative writing faculty, Lunch Poems volunteers, and representatives from student publications. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17127]
Join contributors to “Black Nature,” the First Anthology of Nature Writing by African-American Poets including the writers Harryette Mullen, Ed Roberson, Evie Shockley, Natasha Tretheway, Camille Dungy and Al Young. They read from their work and participate in a discussion on the literary and environmental issues raised by the new anthology. Series: "Writers" [Humanities] [Show ID: 18356]
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Eavan Boland is one of the foremost voices in Irish literature. Her ten volumes of poetry include Against Love Poetry, which was a New York Times notable book, and New Collected Poems. She is also a noted editor and translator. Her awards include a Lannan Foundation Award and an American Ireland Fund Literary Award. She is a professor of English and Creative Writing at Stanford University. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17121]
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Lisa Chen earned a BA from UC Berkeley and an MFA from the University of Iowa. Her debut collection of poetry, mouth, received a 2009 award from the Association for Asian American Studies. Sesshu Foster says that Chen’s work “startles with soulful complexity.” Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17126]
Dan Bellm has published three books of poetry, including Practice, winner of a 2009 California Book Award and named one of the Top Ten Poetry Books of 2008 by the Virginia Quarterly Review. His first collection, One Hand on the Wheel, launched the California Poetry Series and his second, Buried Treasure, won the Poetry Society of America’s Alice Fay DiCastagnola Award. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17124]
Natasha Trethewey is author of Native Guard, for which she won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize; Bellocq’s Ophelia, named a 2003 Notable Book by the American Library Association; and Domestic Work, selected by Rita Dove for the inaugural Cave Canem Poetry Prize. She received the 2008 Mississippi Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts for Poetry. Currently, she is Professor of English and Phillis Wheatley Distinguished Chair in Poetry at Emory University. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17125]
Knoxville, Tennessee native Graham Foust is the author of four books of poetry: As in Every Deafness, Leave the Room to Itself, Necessary Stranger, and A Mouth in California. David Olsen says Foust’s “poems are carefully contained so that we can find a place in them.” He directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, CA. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17122]
At nearly 90 years old, Richard Moore is the last of the legendary San Francisco Renaissance poets. Arriving in 1934, he was among the many émigrés to California during the Great Depression. His debut collection Writing the Silences marks his reemergence into today's literary world. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17123]
Winners of the Academy of American Poets, Cook, Rosenberg, and Yang prizes, as well as students nominated by Berkeley’s creative writing faculty, Lunch Poems volunteers, and representatives from student publications read their work. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 16937]
Hosted by Robert Hass and University Librarian Thomas C. Leonard, the kickoff features distinguished new members of the UC Berkeley English Department faculty introducing and reading a favorite poem. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17120]
C.D. Blanton of the UC Berkeley English departments a poem by Saint-John Perse. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17992]
Vikram Chandra teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley. He reads a poem by Robert Hayden. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17993]
UC Berkeley’s Mark Goble reads two short poems. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17995]
David Landreth reads the first sestina in the English language written by Edmund Spenser. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17996]
Eric Falci of the UC Berkeley English Department reads part of a Seamus Heaney poem. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17994]
UC Berkeley’s Emily Thornbury reads a riddle in poetry. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17998]
UC Berkeley’s Namwali Serpell reads a poem by Elizabeth Bishop. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17997]
Melanie Abrams reads her poetry. She currently teaches creative writing at UC Berkeley. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 17991]
A remarkably strong generation of women poets has emerged in Korea in the last decade. Five of them visited Berkeley, reading, and talking to Korean-American poets and the women poets of the Bay Area. This is a very rare chance to hear some of the most important and exciting voices in Asia: Jeongrye Choi, Young Mi Choi, Hwang Insuk, Chung-hee Moon and Ra Heeduk. They will read their work in English and Korean. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15433]
Born in San Francisco in 1930, world-renowned poet, essayist, and environmentalist Gary Snyder has published sixteen books of poetry and prose, and received the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 for Turtle Island. Snyder has traveled widely and lived for extended periods of time in Japan, where he studied and practiced Rinzai Zen. He is currently a professor at University of California, Davis. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15432]
Songwriters Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield, Poco) and Greg Laswell (Three Flights From Alto Nido) share tips on composing lyrics and then play music for host Karl Martin as part of the 2009 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea sponsored by the Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 15699]
One of the great postwar Central European poets, Slovenian Tomaz Salamun has published over thirty books. He has taught at universities around the world. He reads to an audience at UC Berkeley. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15431]
Born in Odessa, Ilya Kaminsky immigrated to the United States in 1993 when his family was granted asylum by the American government. Kaminsky teaches comparative literature, poetry and literary translation at San Diego State University. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15428]
Tracy K. Smith received degrees in English and creative writing from Harvard and Columbia, and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford. Her first book, The Body's Question, was awarded the 2002 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and her most recent collection, Duende: Poems, received the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. She teaches creative writing at Princeton. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15430]
Robin Blaser emerged from the Berkeley Renaissance of the 1940s and ‘50s along with Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan, and later established himself as one of Canada’s foremost experimental poets. In addition to numerous works of poetry, criticism, and translation, Blaser has also penned an English and Latin opera libretto entitled The Last Supper in collaboration with Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15429]
Poet, editor, and scholar Juliana Spahr discusses her writing and research. Series: "The Center for Cultural Studies at UC Santa Cruz presents" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15001]
Jessica Fisher’s Frail-Craft was the winner of the prestigious 2006 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. She is a doctoral candidate in English at U.C. Berkeley and is coeditor, with Robert Hass, of The Addison Street Anthology, which chronicles Berkeley’s rich poetic history. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 13565]
World-renowned poet Diane di Prima, one of the preeminent writers to emerge from the Beat generation, wrote in Manhattan for many years before relocating to San Francisco, where she has been for nearly four decades. Her 43 books of poetry and prose have been translated into over twenty languages. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 13564]
Arthur Sze is an internationally known writer and celebrated translator. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Sze teaches at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and is the first poet laureate of Santa Fe, where he resides. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 13563]
Born in Mexico City, Monica de la Torre came to the United States in 1993 on a Fulbright scholarship to study at Columbia University. Her poetry explores with great depth both the boundaries and the permeability of imposed identity, combining a playful use of form and dry humor with a hint of hopefulness. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 13562]
Revolutionary poet, playwright, and activist Amiri Baraka is recognized as the founder of the Black Arts Movement, a literary period that began in Harlem in the 1960s and forever changed the look, sound, and feel of American poetry. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 13561]
Rich in its landscapes and its search for personal discovery, John Matthias’ poetry encompasses vast territories of history and culture. He has published more than twenty-five books, twelve of which are poetry, and is the editor of Notre Dame Review. This is his first visit to the west coast in over twenty-five years. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 13560]
Considered by literary critics to be one of the finest living English language poets, Walcott also is a playwright, author, visual artist, and professor. His presentation includes poetry and commentary [Humanities] [Show ID: 12192]
A prominent figure in California’s poetry scene for decades, Joanne Kyger writes poetry influenced by her practice of Zen Buddhism and her ties to the poets of Black Mountain, the San Francisco Renaissance, and the Beat Generation. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 11962]
Born in Seoul, Korea, Myung Mi Kim travels to the root of language, connecting speech and culture in a rich web of immaculate phrases. Kim strips words to the bone, using fragments and white space to enhance her themes of dislocation and first language loss. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 11961]
Iraqi poet Dunya Mikhail immigrated to the United States in 1996 after increasing harassment over her poetry, which confronts war and exile with subversive depictions of suffering. In 2001 she was awarded the UN Human Rights Award for Freedom of Writing. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 11960]
Author, poet, pastor and professor Eugene Peterson charms his audience as he recalls his effort to translate the Bible into The Message, an interpretation geared for modern readers. The book has such wide appeal that U2’s Bono began quoting from it at concerts. But when told of this, Peterson’s response was “Who is Bono?” Peterson is joined host Dean Nelson in Part 2 of the 2007 Writers Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Show ID: 12227]
Part antiphonal rant, part rhythmic whisper, Nathaniel Mackey reads from his new book of poetry and talks about his writing to an audience at UC Santa Cruz where he is a professor of literature. Mackey recently received the 2006 National Book Award for poetry. [Humanities] [Show ID: 12221]
Born in Brooklyn to an Iraqi father and a Syrian mother, Jack Marshall explores the cultures and cities that shaped his artistic awakening. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 11959]
The recent recipient of the prestigious Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens award for "outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry," Michael Palmer is regarded as "one of America's most important poets" by Harvard Review. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 11957]
UC Berkeley's popular noontime poetry series is under the direction of UC Berkeley professor and former Poet Laureate Robert Hass and features renowned poets reading and discussing their work. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 53437]
Will Alexander has created a contemporary alchemy of surrealist vision in his own electric incandescent language. Coined the Césaire of America, his poetry is full of imagistic and intelligent unraveling. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 11958]
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and recent US poet laureate Ted Kooser gives a public reading and answer questions on his art during a visit to UC Davis. [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 12031]
Juan Felipe Herrera traveled as a child with his parents through many small farming towns and cities in California, until finally settling in San Diego. He has taught poetry from kindergarten to the university level and is the author of numerous poetry and children's books, including Calling The Doves, which won the Ezra Jack Keats Award, and Crashboomlove, which was prized with the Americas Award. He also wrote Upside Down Boy, which was adapted into a musical in New York City, and Laughing Out Loud, I Fly, winner of a Pura Belpré honor award. He holds the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside. [Humanities] [Show ID: 11119]
U.S. Poet Laureate (2004-2006) Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the award-winning author of ten collections of poetry, most recently 2004's Pulitzer Prize-winning Delights and Shadows. Nebraskan Kooser often draws from his native Great Plains and his poems are acclaimed for their simple, straightforward style. Kooser reads from his poetry before a standing-room only audience in Campbell Hall at UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Voices" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9537]
A range of Berkeley luminaries read and discuss their favorite poems. This year's line-up: Barbara Ertter (Jepson Herbarium), H. Mack Horton (East Asian Languages), Amy Kautzman (Doe Library), Elaine Kim (Ethnic Studies), Ray Lifchez (Architecture), Cam Nguyet Nguyen (Southeast Asian Studies), Bob Osserman (Mathematical Science Research Center), Laura Perez (Chicano Studies), John Prausnitz (Chemical Engineering), and Frank Worrell (Education). Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9066]
Charismatic poet Cornelius Eady uses deft paradoxes to meet the world's absurdities head-on. In a powerful reading of his own work, Eady recites like a jazz singer croons, emphasizing his poetry's hard-hitting content. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 7952]
Beat poet Michael McClure is the author of numerous volumes of poetry, plays, novels, and essays. McClure is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Obie Award for Best Play, and the National Poetry Association's Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in poetry. Tune in as he reads a selection of poems. Series: "Artists on the Cutting Edge" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 6041]
Yusef Komunyakaa is known as a "jazz poet," a Southern writer and a "soldier poet." Author of nine books and winner of a Pulitzer Prize for poetry, Komunyakaa sets a provocative stage by rejecting the "write what you know" model in favor of the defying "write what you are willing to discover" premise. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 5640]
Trinidad resident Derek Walcott won the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. Walcott has published twenty volumes of poetry and is also a published playwright. Series: "Artists on the Cutting Edge" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 5593]
Poet and novelist Carol Muske-Dukes reads a chapter from her novel, “Saving St. Germ” and selected poetry from “Red Trousseau.” The author accompanies these readings with comments on her work and the creative process. Series: "Artists on the Cutting Edge" [Humanities] [Show ID: 2608]
Poet and novelist Carol Muske-Dukes reads a chapter from her novel, “Saving St. Germ” and selected poetry from “Red Trousseau.” The author accompanies these readings with comments on her work and the creative process. Series: "Artists on the Cutting Edge" [Humanities] [Show ID: 2608]
Marilyn Chin reads some of her poetry, including BARBARIAN SWEET, which she says retains ancient Chinese forms in a recognizable Western format Series: "Artists on the Cutting Edge" [Humanities] [Show ID: 595]
Poet Quincy Troupe and jazz guitarist Phil Upchurch combine spoken word and music in a fluid, dynamic performance centering on the African-American experience. Series: "Artists on the Cutting Edge" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 2787]
Poet Jesus Papoleto Melendez’s experiences as “a Puerto Rican kid in Harlem” and a teacher in San Diego have informed his writing. Series: "Artists on the Cutting Edge" [Humanities] [Show ID: 2645]