Podcast appearances and mentions of tracy k smith

Today's poem is Telephone of the Wind by Eddie Kim.The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on August 12, 2020.In this episode, Tracy writes… “Today's poem takes me back to the time when telephones and the distances they allowed us to cross were monumental.”Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Moon Pull by Carlina Duan.The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on May 5, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “I love the way today's poem lays claim to the moon and all it represents.”Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Tracing the Horse by Diana Marie Delgado. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on April 29, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “I turn to words constantly—to help me clarify a thought, to dig deeper into an idea, to keep something from slipping away and being forgotten. And yet, there is so much that I love—and so much that I remember—that doesn't need words. Images, sounds, scents, feelings that dawned instantly and imparted something different from sense but indelible nonetheless. I could read today's poem over and over, dwelling in the states of awareness and sensation it invokes.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is The Feeling by Ari Banias. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on August 27, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “We are living through what I want to believe is an awakening. Many people who have never given an injustice like racism much thought are beginning to think about it. Now what? What are those who are awake to this reality willing to give up, change, renounce, replace in order to begin righting age-old wrongs? And what's next?” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Telling My Father by James Crews. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on October 19, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “Sometimes love looks like small things. Gentle gestures rich with import. We give such things to one another at times without even realizing it. Tiny soul-saving acts.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Portrait of the Alcoholic with Withdrawal by Kaveh Akbar. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on December 6, 2018. In this episode, Tracy writes, “One day I was a drinker; the next, I was an ex-drinker. A braver person would say: one day I came to understand I am an alcoholic. I consider myself lucky. The best way I can describe the change is to call it an unburdening.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Listen, by Barbara Crooker. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on October 19, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “Today's poem offers up a message of calm and gratitude. It's one I want to learn to offer myself—especially on days when peace feels far-away. Are there people out there who live always with that gratitude? That sense of the world with its simple gifts being all the plenty they seek? I'd like to be one of them for more than just an hour at a time.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Polaroid Ode by Cori Winrock.The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on October 21, 2019. In this episode, Tracy writes… “Today's poem captures the look and feel and ceremony—with all its hope and disappointment—of taking instant pictures. And it makes me wistful both for the past and the present.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Kissing the Opelu by Donovan Kūhiō Colleps.The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on May 21, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “Today's poem speaks to me of ancestry, tradition, and the fluidity of perception. We are who we are, the poem suggests to me, because of what we inherit from the people we love. Why does it have me thinking about ghosts and visitations? Maybe because I've decided that the people I love are always with me in one form or another.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is What Does It Say by Tess Gallagher. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on July 17, 2019. In this episode, Tracy writes… “When I packed up for college, back in 1990, I took sneakers and loafers. I probably also brought some nerdy deck shoes, and maybe even a pair of heels. But by the time my sophomore year rolled around, nearly all of those shoes had been replaced by a pair of black cowboy boots. I wore them everyday, even in snow. By the time I came home for the holidays, they were worn down at the heel and a coin-sized hole had been worn through each sole. I was afraid I'd have to let them go, but my mother took them to the shoe repairman, who resoled them, built the heels back up, and polished them to a high shine, reviving them to their former glory!” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong by Ocean Vuong.The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on May 18, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “Today's poem models another critical aspect of self-care: being honest about how difficult life feels, and striving to be tender, patient and consoling with oneself.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is a brief meditation on breath by Yesenia Montilla. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on October 19, 2020.In this episode, Tracy writes… “The whole time, I felt all of my senses struggle to decelerate. My heart was like a drum solo. It felt like someone was pounding on my chest. While I was there, I flipped through my mental Rolodex of workday vexation. I ticked off the headlines that, even on a good day, hamper my ability to unwind. Lying there, struggling to relax, egged on by the actual bothers my work-week forces me to wrestle, I understood something. Many people live like this on a regular basis. The peril, the worry, the blood pressure roiling. When you wake up and people doubt you, threaten you, overstep respectful bounds. When leaders utter slurs against you. When every day the deck, already stacked against you, is reshuffled.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Episódio um pouco mais ligeiro para este feriado de 1º de maio, Dia do Trabalhador. Entre os dias 16 e 18 deste mês vai rolar aqui em São Paulo o Festival Poesia no Centro, organizado pela Livraria Megafauna. Subirão no palco do teatro Cultura Artística poetas como Adelaide Ivánova, Ana Martins Marques, Marília Garcia, Oswaldo de Camargo e Prisca Agustoni. Dentre as atrações estrangeiras estão a argentina Roberta Iannamico, a alemã Uljana Wolf, o irlandês Stephen Sexton e Tracy K-Smith, dos Estados Unidos. Deixarei o link com a programação completa do evento na descrição do episódio. No intervalo entre uma mesa e outra, o bar do Cultura Artística receberá uma programação paralela. Chamada de Megafone, é ali que dezenas de poetas poderão mostrar um pouco de sua poesia em apresentações breves. Foram quase duzentas inscrições de pessoas querendo um espaço no Megafone. Quem fez a curadoria dos nomes que estarão nesse palco foi Bruna Beber. Bruna é um dos nomes mais conhecidos de nossa cena poética. Ela é autora de livros como “Veludo Rouco”, “Rua da Padaria”, “Ladainha” e “Sal de Fruta”. O Megafone e a poesia brasileira contemporânea foram os dois grandes assuntos do papo com Bruna. * Aqui o caminho para a newsletter da Página Cinco: https://paginacinco.substack.com/ ** O site do Festival Poesia no Centro: https://www.livrariamegafauna.com.br/poesia-no-centro/

Today's poem is Minneapolipstick by Rachel McKibbens. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on September 21, 2020. In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “Sometimes a dance party is the only means of conflict resolution in my house.]” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Leaving Tulsa by Jennifer Elise Foerster. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on October 22, 2020. In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “History is a worn path. Deep ruts eaten into Earth make up a road. But there are additional routes, footprints, and wheel grooves and grassy straits few have traveled. The Myth of a central history of America is damaging to those whose stories have been left untended, overgrown, and it is damaging for those who believe the one heavily trafficked road is the only road. It has become clear to me that the work of survival for this fraught nation is the work of stopping to listen to the many divergent narratives of America.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Untitled by Sesshu Foster. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on June 12, 2019.In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “Sometimes, I return to memories of my past and feel as though I'm peering in upon strangers. And yet, I know something fundamental to the person I now am, resides there.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Waiting for Happiness by Nomi Stone. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on December 24, 2019. In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “It's a good thing to have a dog, someone who cares about you, someone who shares their whole heart with you entirely. Dogs don't hold back. They don't keep secrets. And they accept you as you are right now.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today's poem is Wake Up by Carl Phillips. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We'll be back soon with new episodes. This week, we're going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith's time as host. Today's episode was originally released on January 24, 2020. In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “That's how it feels sometimes listening to news of our daily catastrophes, like all of us, no matter who we are, are lost together. And the old signs, the old facts even are gone, insufficient to the new task we, together, must face. Why does that idea, the idea that together, we must find a new means of putting things back in order — why does it somehow comfort me?” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

National Poetry Month continues with readings from former National Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, and listeners share their favorite poems.

April 9, 2025 - "Us & CO." by Tracy K Smith, read by Michael McGuire by The Desmond-Fish Public Library & The Highlands Current, hosted by Ryan Biracree

In this Black History Month special episode, former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith discusses her memoir To Free the Captives, which looks to uncover Black strength, continuance, and community by looking back at her own family's history; poet Saeed Jones (Alive at the End of the World) unpacks the backstories behind some of his poems involving Billie Holiday, Maya Angelou, and Luther Vandross; and Ethio-Jazz musician Meklit performs the song, “I Want to Sing for Them All” as a tribute to her musical influences.

To prepare for family dinners and political conversations this holiday season, two guests offer us new ways of being humble and curious. First, well-known thinker and author Malcolm Gladwell reveals why we must learn humility if we are to understand each other. “Humility is a habit,” he says. “Habit is a really important word, because if it's a habit, it means it's something that you have to practice.” Then, former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith offers powerful poems that invite us to acknowledge the full, complex, and beautiful worth of the human beings we encounter. In this episode, listen closely for multiple ways we can cultivate humility, be curious, and have compassion despite our disagreements and differences. Show Notes Resources mentioned this episode:"The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" by Malcolm Gladwell "Wade in the Water: Poems" by Tracy K. Smith Similar NSE episodes: Malcolm Gladwell: Becoming Malcolm Tracy K. Smith and Marie Howe: Poetry as Politics Thanksgiving Special: Conversation and Gratitude  Transcription Link  Want more NSE? JOIN NSE+ Today! Our subscriber only community with bonus episodes designed specifically to help you live a good life, ad-free listening, and discounts on live shows Subscribe to episodes: Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Google | YouTubeFollow Us: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTubeFollow Lee: Instagram | TwitterJoin our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com See Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: Tokens Media, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

After a grueling campaign season, Election Day has arrived. Here at Forum, we asked ourselves what we would want to hear on an anxiety-inducing day. To that end, we've brought together a panel of thinkers including Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate, Jenny Odell, an artist and author who has thought deeply about nature and time, and Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor, who has written about awe and wonder. We'll talk with them about how they find beauty, discovery and meaning in the face of worrying times, and hear from you: What is keeping you grounded today? Guests: Jenny Odell, author of "Saving Time: Discovering A Life Beyond the Clock". Odell is also the author of "How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy" Tracy K. Smith, poet; professor of English and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University - She served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for her book, "Life on Mars." She is the author of five poetry collections, including "Such Color," "Wade in Water," among other volumes Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley -Keltner is the author of "Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life." He served as a consultant on the Pixar films, "Inside Out" and "Inside Out 2".

Tracy K. Smith is a Pulitzer prize winning poet, professor and librettist who served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2017-2019. She's published five poetry collections, two librettos and one memoir-manifesto. She is also a Professor of English and African and African American Studies at Harvard. Her most recent Libretto for the opera The Righteous is currently running at the Santa Fe Opera house through August 13th.Pulsing through Tracy's long list of accomplishments is her belief that language, and specifically poetry, is a pathway to the fullest versions of ourselves- selves that today's world often doesn't allow us to be.In this episode of DB|BD, hosts Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt sit down with Tracy to talk through the writing process of two of her most recent works: the libretto for The Righteous and her 2024 memoir-manifesto To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul. Tracy also candidly engages in conversation about how she finds faith when you otherwise feel empty, how she uses history to inform her analysis of the current moment and how her employer and alma mater, Harvard, can emerge from this period of institutional struggle.And stick around to the end of the episode to hear Tracy read one of her poems live on air!On this season of DB|BD, co-hosts Jessica Helfand and Ellen McGirt are observing equity by highlighting the “redesigners” — people who are addressing urgent problems by challenging big assumptions about how the world can and should work — and who it should work for. This season of DB|BD is powered by Deloitte. Visit our site for more on this episode and to view a transcript.Tracy K. Smith's website.Full text of “An Old Story”.More on Nada Hafez Fencing While PregnantAllyson Felix on Setting Up the First Olympic NurseryIlona Maher on TikTokFollow The Design of Business | The Business of Design on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Episodes are produced by Design Observer's editorial team. The views and opinions expressed by podcast speakers and guests are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions of Deloitte or its personnel, nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse any individuals or entities featured on the episodes.

[@ 4 min] Alright, this week we go Inside the Huddle with Greer Grimsley. The American bass-baritone returns to Santa Fe Opera for Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith's "The Righteous," which receives its world premiere on July 13! [@ 33 min] Then…speaking of July 13, this Saturday is the 100th birthday anniversary of Carlo Bergonzi. Musicologist Brad Sisk, a former student of Bergonzi, takes a Free Throw on what made the great Italian tenor a quintessential Verdian. [@ 46 min] There's a Lot going on in France (and not all of it's good), but something good is happening in England. GET YOUR VOICE HEARD operaboxscore.com facebook.com/obschi1 @operaboxscore IG operaboxscore

Tracy K. Smith discusses her latest poetry collection, To Free the Captives, in this conversation with fellow poet, Major Jackson.

Charles and Pedro discuss cordon bleu pizza, testicular microplastics, and a poem by Tracy K. Smith.

On this special episode of Vibe Check, Sam, Saeed, and Zach talk to the U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limón, about demystifying the art of poetry, and her new anthology, “You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World”. Plus, a few beginner-friendly recommendations from Ada.We want to hear from you! Email us at vibecheck@stitcher.com, and keep in touch with us on Instagram @vibecheck_pod.You can now get direct access to the group chat! Find us on Patreon at patreon.com/vibecheck. You can find Ada Limon on Instagram @adalimonwriter.------------------------------------------------------ADA'S RECOMMENDATIONS: Poet, Lucille CliftonPlease Excuse This PoemSuch Color: New and Selected Poems by Tracy K. Smith

On this very special January night, editor extraordinaire John Freeman was joined by three of his star contributors, Jakuta Alikavazovic, Juan Gabriel Vasquez and Deborah Landau to bid farewell to his literary journal.Buy Freeman's Conclusions: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/freemans-conclusions*Jakuta Alikavazovic (b.1979) is a French writer of Bosnian and Montenegrin origins. Her first novel, Corps Volatils (2008) won the Goncourt Prize for Best First Novel and her second and third novels, Le Londres-Luxor (2010) and La Blonde et Le Bunker (2012) won prizes in France and Italy. Her most recent novel, Night as it Falls (L'Avancee de la Nuit), was published by Faber in 2020. Her essay Comme un Ciel en Nous (Like a Sky in Us) won the Prix Medicis Essai 2021 and her collected newspaper columns Faites Un Voeu (Make a Wish) were published in 2022. She is working on a new novel to be delivered in 2023.Juan Gabriel Vásquez is the author of 8 works of fiction, including the award-winning The Sound of Things Falling, The Shape of the Ruins and Retrospective. His work is published in 30 languages.Deborah Landau is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Skeletons. Her other books include Soft Targets (winner of The Believer Book Award), The Uses of the Body, and The Last Usable Hour, all Lannan Literary Selections from Copper Canyon Press, as well as Orchidelirium, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye for the Robert Dana Anhinga Prize for Poetry. In 2016 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is a professor at New York University, where she directs the Creative Writing ProgramJohn Freeman is the founder of the literary annual Freeman's and the author and editor of a dozen books, including Wind, Trees, Dictionary of the Undoing, Tales of Two Planets, The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story, and, with Tracy K. Smith, There's a Revolution Outside, My Love. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Orion, and been translated into over twenty languages. The former editor of Granta, he lives in New York City, where he is an executive editor at Alfred A. Knopf and hosts the monthly California Book Club -- a free online discussion of a new classic in Golden State literature -- for Alta magazine.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. His latest novel, Beasts of England, a sequel of sorts to Animal Farm, is available now. Buy a signed copy here: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/beasts-of-englandListen to Alex Freiman's latest EP, In The Beginning: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iZYPMCUnG7xiCtsFCBlVa?si=h5x3FK1URq6SwH9Kb_SO3w Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The American Poet Laureate: A History of U.S. Poetry and the State (Columbia University Press, 2023) by Dr. Amy Paeth shows how the state has been the silent centre of poetic production in the United States since World War II. It is the first history of the national poetry office, the U.S. poet laureate, highlighting the careers of Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Pinsky, Tracy K. Smith, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Joy Harjo at the nation's Capitol. It is also a history of how these state poets participated in national arts programming during the Cold War. Drawing on previously unexplored archival materials at the Library of Congress and materials at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Dr. Paeth describes the interactions of federal bodies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with literary organisations and with private patrons, including “Prozac heiress” Ruth Lilly. The consolidation of public and private interests is crucial to the development of state verse culture, recognizable at the first National Poetry Festival in 1962, which followed Robert Frost's “Mission to Moscow,” and which became dominant in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The American Poet Laureate contributes to a growing body of institutional and sociological approaches to U.S. literary production in the postwar era and demonstrates how poetry has played a uniquely important, and largely underacknowledged, role in the cultural front of the Cold War. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The American Poet Laureate: A History of U.S. Poetry and the State (Columbia University Press, 2023) by Dr. Amy Paeth shows how the state has been the silent centre of poetic production in the United States since World War II. It is the first history of the national poetry office, the U.S. poet laureate, highlighting the careers of Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Pinsky, Tracy K. Smith, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Joy Harjo at the nation's Capitol. It is also a history of how these state poets participated in national arts programming during the Cold War. Drawing on previously unexplored archival materials at the Library of Congress and materials at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Dr. Paeth describes the interactions of federal bodies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with literary organisations and with private patrons, including “Prozac heiress” Ruth Lilly. The consolidation of public and private interests is crucial to the development of state verse culture, recognizable at the first National Poetry Festival in 1962, which followed Robert Frost's “Mission to Moscow,” and which became dominant in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The American Poet Laureate contributes to a growing body of institutional and sociological approaches to U.S. literary production in the postwar era and demonstrates how poetry has played a uniquely important, and largely underacknowledged, role in the cultural front of the Cold War. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The American Poet Laureate: A History of U.S. Poetry and the State (Columbia University Press, 2023) by Dr. Amy Paeth shows how the state has been the silent centre of poetic production in the United States since World War II. It is the first history of the national poetry office, the U.S. poet laureate, highlighting the careers of Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Pinsky, Tracy K. Smith, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Joy Harjo at the nation's Capitol. It is also a history of how these state poets participated in national arts programming during the Cold War. Drawing on previously unexplored archival materials at the Library of Congress and materials at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Dr. Paeth describes the interactions of federal bodies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with literary organisations and with private patrons, including “Prozac heiress” Ruth Lilly. The consolidation of public and private interests is crucial to the development of state verse culture, recognizable at the first National Poetry Festival in 1962, which followed Robert Frost's “Mission to Moscow,” and which became dominant in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The American Poet Laureate contributes to a growing body of institutional and sociological approaches to U.S. literary production in the postwar era and demonstrates how poetry has played a uniquely important, and largely underacknowledged, role in the cultural front of the Cold War. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

The American Poet Laureate: A History of U.S. Poetry and the State (Columbia University Press, 2023) by Dr. Amy Paeth shows how the state has been the silent centre of poetic production in the United States since World War II. It is the first history of the national poetry office, the U.S. poet laureate, highlighting the careers of Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Pinsky, Tracy K. Smith, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Joy Harjo at the nation's Capitol. It is also a history of how these state poets participated in national arts programming during the Cold War. Drawing on previously unexplored archival materials at the Library of Congress and materials at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Dr. Paeth describes the interactions of federal bodies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with literary organisations and with private patrons, including “Prozac heiress” Ruth Lilly. The consolidation of public and private interests is crucial to the development of state verse culture, recognizable at the first National Poetry Festival in 1962, which followed Robert Frost's “Mission to Moscow,” and which became dominant in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The American Poet Laureate contributes to a growing body of institutional and sociological approaches to U.S. literary production in the postwar era and demonstrates how poetry has played a uniquely important, and largely underacknowledged, role in the cultural front of the Cold War. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Recorded by Tracy K. Smith for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on February 20, 2024. www.poets.org

Tracy K. Smith discusses her latest poetry collection, To Free the Captives, in this conversation with fellow poet, Major Jackson.

Tracy K. Smith was born in Massachusetts and raised in northern California. She earned a BA from Harvard University and an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. From 1997 to 1999 she held a Stegner fellowship at Stanford University. Smith is the author of four books of poetry: The Body's Question (2003), which won the Cave Canem prize for the best first book by an African-American poet; Duende (2007), winner of the James Laughlin Award and the Essense Literary Award; Life on Mars (2011), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; and Wade in the Water (2018). In 2014 she was awarded the Academy of American Poets fellowship. She has also written a memoir, Ordinary Light (2015), which was a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction.In June 2017, Smith was named U.S. poet laureate. She teaches  at Harvard University, where she is a professor of English and of African and African American Studies and the Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. She also hosted American Public Media's daily radio program and podcast The Slowdown, which is sponsored by the Poetry Foundation.-bio via Poetry Foundation Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe

In this Black History Month special episode, former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith discusses her memoir To Free the Captives, which explores Black strength, continuance, and community by looking back at her own family's history; poet Saeed Jones (Alive at the End of the World) unpacks the backstories behind some of his poems involving Billie Holiday, Maya Angelou, and Luther Vandross; and Ethio-Jazz musician Meklit performs the song, “I Want to Sing for Them All” as a tribute to her musical influences.

Tracy K. Smith is known for her powerful poetry. She's a Pulitzer Prize winner and former U. S. Poet Laureate.Yet her newest book, “To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul,” is memoir — a classification she initially resisted. But as she tells MPR News host Kerri Miller, she eventually saw that her own story is a kind of microcosm of America's story. It's a meditation on who we've been, who we are and who we want to become.On this week's Big Books and Bold Ideas, Smith joins Miller to expand on the ideas in her latest work, as it examines the nature of power, freedom, race, prayer, her parent's lives, her own drinking and what she calls "the conundrum of history.”Guest: Tracy K. Smith's poetry has won many awards, including a Pulitzer. She was the U.S. poet laureate from 2017 to 2019. Currently, she is a professor of English and African American studies at Harvard University. Her new book is “To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul.” Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Tracy K. Smith is the author of five acclaimed poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Life on Mars. Her memoir, Ordinary Light, was a finalist for the National Book Award. From 2017 to 2019, she served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States. In 2020, heartsick from constant assaults on Black life, Smith found herself soul-searching, and digging into the historical archive for help navigating the “din of human division and strife.” In her new book, To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul, Smith draws on several avenues of thinking – personal, documentary, and spiritual– to understand who we are as a nation and what we might hope to mean to one another. On November 10, 2023, Tracy K. Smith came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco to talk with john a. powell, Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute and a Professor of Law and Professor of African American Studies and Ethnic Studies at the University of California.

For this long weekend, enjoy some of our recent favorite interviews: Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, former Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019, author of To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul (Knopf, 2023), talks about her new book, a manifesto for facing our history and moving forward together. The Fifth National Climate Assessment, a government mandated report on climate change, was released mid-November. Kate Marvel, climate scientist at the environmental nonprofit Project Drawdown and a lead author of the report, breaks down the warnings -- and the climate solutions -- laid out in the assessment. Michèle Lamont, professor of sociology, African and African American Studies at Harvard University, and the author of Seeing Others: How Recognition Works—and How It Can Heal a Divided World (One Signal/Atria, 2023), argues that "recognizing" and dignifying more than material success offers a path out of today's polarization. Carolina Hidalgo, senior producer for WNYC's Radio Rookies, introduces the new class of Radio Rookies while: Christina Adja shares the story she reported about gentrification coming to her neighborhood in the South Bronx; Saldon Tenzin shares her story on her experience of growing up as a first-generation Tibetan and learning to be proud of a home she's never visited; and Fanta Kaba shares her story on how her family found stability in a NYCHA apartment, and how residents are wary as public housing here in the city is changing.   These interviews were lightly edited for time and clarity; the original web versions of the interviews are available through these links:  Tracy K. Smith's Manifesto (Nov. 7) A Climate Scientist's Optimism (Nov. 28) Recognition, Dignity and Worth (Sep. 21) Radio Rookies 2023: Gentrification Comes to The Bronx (Sep. 13) Radio Rookies 2023: Learning What it Means to be Tibetan (Sep. 14) Radio Rookies 2023: Changes Coming to Public Housing (Sep. 15)

“I am searching for the soul-family from whom I descend.” That's how former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith describes the impulse animating her latest book “To Free the Captives,” a chronicle of her endeavors to learn more about her father's ancestors and the challenges they faced in the deep south of the early 20th century, born as they were “into a nation intent upon their diminishment and inured to their dying.” We talk to Smith about the histories she unearthed and what they reveal to her about herself, her family and a nation. Guests: Tracy K. Smith, poet; professor of English and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University. Her latest book is "To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul." She served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019.

Pulitzer-Prize winning writer Tracy K. Smith joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to discuss the difference between being “free” and being “freed.” She suggests that citizens of the United States fall into one category or the other. The first appear to have descended from those who were always free. The second descend from those who were acted upon by those in the first category. Smith talks about the research she's done to understand the roles her forefathers played in this country's armed conflicts and the connections between the military and our historical understanding of freedom. She reads from her new collection of essays, To Free the Captives. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf. Tracy K. Smith To Free the Captives Life on Mars Such Color Ordinary Light Wade in the Water My Name Will Grow Wide Like a Tree There's a Revolution Outside, My Love The Body's Question Duende American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Times (Ed.) Others: Fiction/Non/Fiction, Season 4 Episode 9: “Tracy K. Smith and Kawai Strong Washburn on Biden's Debts to His Base (Especially Black Women)” The 1619 Project Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture W.E.B. Du Bois “The Glaring Contradiction of Republicans' Rhetoric of Freedom” by Ronald Brownstein |The Atlantic, July 8, 2022 “Trump's Second-Term Plans: Anti-‘Woke' University, ‘Freedom Cities'” by Andrew Restuccia | The Wall Street Journal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we say farewell to 2023, we look back at another year of unprecedented book challenges, efforts to defund libraries, and other threats to the profession. But one silver lining has been the authors who have voiced their support for librarians, books, and democracy. In Episode 90, Call Number presents its “2023 Author Chats.” Hear never-before-released clips from conversations with Idina Menzel and Cara Mentzel, James Patterson, Rick Riordan, Brian Selznick, Clint Smith, Tracy K. Smith, Angie Thomas, and Kelly Yang. They share how libraries have been an integral part of their life and work—often highlighting how the library has been a sanctuary throughout their lives.

The former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith has a new memoir. In it, she discovers a surprise in her late father's military records that changed how she sees herself as a Black woman in America. About: Hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, On Point is WBUR's award-winning, daily public radio show and podcast. Its unique combination of original reporting, first-person stories, and in-depth analysis creates an experience that makes the world more intelligible and humane. Deep dives. Original stories. Fresh takes. We'd appreciate your help to better understand On Point's podcast listeners and get your feedback — it'll take you about 10 minutes or less! Take our survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/onpointpodcast  

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith's To Free the Captives combines the beauty of a memoir with a grander look at America's history and future. Smith joins us to talk about family and cultural identity, race and belonging, the importance of poetry and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over. This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.     New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.      Featured Books (Episode): To Free the Captives by Tracy K. Smith Such Color Tracy K. Smith Life on Mars Tracy K. Smith Wade in the Water Tracy K. Smith

Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them. Atlantic writer McKay Coppins talks about his biography of Mitt Romney and the state of the GOP (First) | Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, on a manifesto for moving forward together (Starts at 29:45) | How the issue of abortion affected the outcomes of a few key election races around the country (Starts at 47:22) If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.    

Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, former Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019, author of To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul (Knopf, 2023), talks about her new book, a manifesto for facing our history and moving forward together. →Event:  Tracy K. Smith will be in conversation with Imani Perry on December 7th at 7:00pm at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South.

This week on From the Front Porch, it's time for another Literary Therapy session! Our literary Frasier Crane, Annie, is back to answer more of your reading questions and dilemmas. If you have a question you would like Annie to answer in a future episode, you can leave us a voicemail here. To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our website (type “Episode 434” into the search bar to easily find the books mentioned in this episode): Monsters by Claire Dederer American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon (unavailable to purchase) Ordinary Light by Tracy K. Smith (audiobook) (paperback) Life in Five Senses by Gretchen Rubin (audiobook) (hardcover) Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek by Thea Glassman (audiobook) (hardcover) The Celebrants by Steven Rowley (audiobook) (hardcover) The Bodyguard by Katherine Center (audiobook) (paperback) Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum (audiobook) (hardcover) Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter (audiobook) (paperback) Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes (audiobook) (hardcover) I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (audiobook) (hardcover) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr  Dear Regina by Flannery O'Connor The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee 11/22/63 by Stephen King Memorial Drive by Natasha Tretheway Life and Other Love Songs by Anissa Gray Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Houston From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Bloomability by Sharon Creech (unavailable to purchase) The Watsons Go To Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin East of Eden by John Steinbeck Jaws by Peter Benchley From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.  A full transcript of today's episode can be found here. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.  This week, Annie is reading Directions to Myself by Heidi Julavits. If you liked what you heard in today's episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Our Executive Producers are...Ashley Ferrell, Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Kate O'Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins. Thank you to this week's sponsor, Visit Thomasville. Summer is a wonderful time to see Thomasville, Georgia!  If it's time to hit the road for a quick getaway, we're exactly what you're looking for! You can rekindle your spark, explore historical sites, indulge in dining out, shop at amazing independent stores, and finally relax and unwind. There's no better getaway than Thomasville!  Whether you live close by or are passing through, we hope you'll visit beautiful Thomasville, Georgia – it's worth the trip! Plan your visit at ThomasvilleGa.com.

For a special New Year's treat, we take a tour through the history of the universe with the help of… poets. Our guide is Maria Popova, who writes the popular blog The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings), and the poetry is from her project, “The Universe in Verse” — an annual event where poets read poems about science, space, and the natural world. Special thanks to all of our poets, musicians, and performers: Marie Howe, Tracy K. Smith, Rebecca Elson, Joan As Police Woman, Patti Smith, Gautam Srikishan, Zoe Keating, and Emily Dickinson. EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Lulu Millerwith help from - Maria PopovaProduced by - Sindhu Gnanasambandanwith mixing help from - Jeremy BloomFact-checking by - Natalie A. Middletonand Edited by  - Pat Walters FURTHER READING AND RESEARCH:To dig deeper on this one, we recommendBooks: - Tracy K Smith's “Life On Mars” (https://zpr.io/weTzGTbZyVDT)- Marie Howe's “The Kingdom Of Ordinary Times” (https://zpr.io/Tj9cWTsQxHG3)- Rebecca Elson's “A Responsiblity To Awe” (https://zpr.io/PLR3KL8SfuPR)- Patti Smith's “Just Kids” (https://zpr.io/zM47P5KqqKZx)Music:- Joan As Policewoman (https://joanaspolicewoman.com/)- Gautam Srikishan (https://www.floatingfast.com/)- Zoe Keating (https://www.zoekeating.com/) Internet:- The Marginalian blog post (https://zpr.io/abTuDFH9pfwu) about Vera Rubin- Check out photos of Emily Dickinson's Herbarium (https://zpr.io/XkgTscKBfem6), a book of 424 flowers she picked and pressed and identified while studying the wild botany of Massachusetts.Tracy K. Smith, “My God, It's Full of Stars” from Such Color: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 2011 by Tracy K. Smith. Read by the author and used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, www.graywolfpress.org.Fun fact: This episode was inspired by the fact that many Navy ships record the first log entry of the New Year in verse! To see some of this year's poems and learn about the history of the tradition, check out this post by the Naval History and Heritage Command. And, if you want to read a bit from Lulu's interview with sailor poet Lt. Ian McConnaughey, subscribe to our newsletter. Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org. Leadership support for Radiolab's science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

In the summer of 2020, as protests against racism spread throughout the country, former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith began to view her work differently. She started seeing her own poetry as part of something bigger, a continuation of generations of Black poets who had used their words as proof of their own humanity for centuries. In honor of Juneteenth, Tracy K. Smith shares some of her favorite works from Black poets as well as one of her own. You can read more poetry from Tracy K. Smith at the Poetry Foundation and more of Ross Gay's work can be found at Split This Rock's poetry database.