Readings and conversation with The New Yorker's poetry editor, Kevin Young.
Monica Ferrell joins Kevin Young to discuss “ Carrowmore ,” by Lucie Brock-Broido, and her own poem “ The Fifties .” Ferrell is the author of a novel and three books of poetry, including “ You Darling Thing ,” a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and the Believer Book Award in Poetry. Her new collection, “ The Future ,” was published in March. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Maya C. Popa joins Kevin Young to read “ Artless ,” by Brenda Shaughnessy, and her own poem “ The World Was All Before Them .” Popa is the author of “ Wound Is the Origin of Wonder ” and “ American Faith ,” the latter of which won the North American Book Prize. Her third collection, “ If You Love That Lady ,” will be published by W. W. Norton this July. Popa serves as the poetry editor of Publishers Weekly , and teaches in the undergraduate and M.F.A. programs at New York University. Learn about...
Adrian Matejka joins Kevin Young to read “ Against the Encroaching Grays ,” by C. D. Wright, and his own poem “ Almost Home .” Matejka is the author of several poetry collections and the graphic novel “ Last on His Feet .” He has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, served as the poet laureate of the state of Indiana from 2018 to 2019, and is editor-in-chief of Poetry magazine. His new collection, “ Be Easy: New & Selected Poems ,” will be published in March. H...
April Bernard joins Kevin Young to read “ A Worldly Country ,” by John Ashbery, and her own poem “ Beagle or Something .” Bernard is the author of two novels and six poetry collections—including “ Blackbird Bye Bye ,” which won the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, and “ The World Behind the World ,” which was published in 2023. She’s a professor of English and creative writing at Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs, New York. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/...
Patricia Lockwood joins Kevin Young to read “ In the Waiting Room ,” by Elizabeth Bishop, and her own poem “ Love Poem Like We Used to Write It .” Lockwood is the author of the novels “ No One Is Talking About This ” and “ Will There Ever Be Another You ,” along with two poetry collections and a memoir. She has won the Thurber Prize for American Humor and the Dylan Thomas Prize, and she’s a contributing editor at the London Review of Books . Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choic...
Traci Brimhall joins Kevin Young to read “ Refrigerator, 1957 ,” by Thomas Lux, and her own poem “ Love Poem Without a Drop of Hyperbole in It .” Brimhall is the author of five poetry collections, including “ Love Prodigal ” and “ Our Lady of the Ruins ,” which won the Barnard Women Poets Prize. She has also received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Park Service—and she is the poet laureate of Kansas and the 2025 Poet-in-Residence at the Guggenheim Museum in ...
Henri Cole joins Kevin Young to read “ Vita Nova ,” by Louise Glück, and his own poem “ Figs .” Cole is the author of many poetry collections, including “ The Other Love .” He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of honors such as the Thom Gunn Award and the Jackson Poetry Prize. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Bruce Smith joins Kevin Young to read “ Open Letter To My Ancestors , ” by Mary Ruefle, and his own poem “ The Game .” Smith, the author of eight poetry collections, including the forthcoming “ Hungry Ghost ,” has received awards from the Academy of American Poets and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, in addition to fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches at Syracuse University. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choice...
Garrett Hongo joins Kevin Young to read “ T’ang Notebook , ” by Charles Wright, and his own poem “ On Emptiness .” Garrett Hongo is the author of several books of poetry and nonfiction, including “ Ocean of Clouds ” and “ The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo .” He's received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he's a distinguished professor at the University of Oregon. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Sasha Debevec-McKenney joins Kevin Young to read “ Hammond B3 Organ Cistern ,” by Gabrielle Calvocoressi, and her own poem “ Kaepernick .” Debevec-McKenney is the author of the new poetry collection “ Joy Is My Middle Name .” She was a Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin, and a creative-writing fellow at Emory University. Her poems have been published widely. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Megan Fernandes joins Kevin Young to read “ Half-Life in Exile ,” by Hala Alyan, and her own poem “ On Your Departure to California .” Fernandes’s books include “ I Do Everything I’m Told ” and “ Good Boys .” Her poems have been published widely, and she’s received fellowships from the Yaddo Foundation, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Hawthornden Foundation. She’s currently an associate professor of English and the writer-in-residence at Lafayette College. Learn about your ad choices: d...
Erika Meitner joins Kevin Young to read “ What Work Is ,” by Philip Levine, and her own poem “ To Gather Together .” Meitner’s books include “ Useful Junk ” and “ Holy Moly Carry Me ,” which won the 2018 National Jewish Book Award in Poetry. She is currently a Mandel Institute Cultural Leadership Program Fellow, and she’s the director of the M.F.A. program in creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
David St. John joins Kevin Young to read “ Picking Grapes in an Abandoned Vineyard ,” by Larry Levis, and his own poem “The Shore.” St. John is the author of many poetry collections and the recipient of honors including the Rome Fellowship and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the O. B. Hardison Prize from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the George Drury Smith Award from Beyond Baroque. He’s also the editor of “Swirl & Vortex,” a volume of collected po...
Edward Hirsch joins Kevin Young to read “ 96 Vandam ,” by Gerald Stern, and his own poem “ Man on a Fire Escape .” Hirsch's honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honor, and a National Jewish Book Award. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Jericho Brown joins Kevin Young to explore Elizabeth Alexander's poem "When," discussing its themes of loss, love, and community, and how it reflects the experiences of Black gay men during the AIDS crisis. Brown also shares his poem "Coliseum," delving into its themes of love, war, and the search for the sublime. The conversation highlights the importance of poetry and its role in preserving cultural memory and fostering empathy.
This year, The New Yorker turns one hundred years old, and, to celebrate the occasion, we’re publishing an anthology: “ A Century of Poetry in The New Yorker, 1925-2025 .” Deborah Garrison, a poet and an editor at Knopf, who worked closely with The New Yorker on this exciting project, joins Kevin Young to discuss the anthology. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Dobby Gibson joins Kevin Young to read “ I have slept in many places, for years on mattresses that entered ,” by Diane Seuss, and his own poem “ This Is a Test of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Wireless Warning System .” Gibson is the author of five poetry collections, including, most recently, “ Hold Everything .” He’s also the recipient of fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Learn about your ad cho...
Rae Armantrout joins Kevin Young to read “ Mother, ” by Dorothea Lasky, and her own poem “ Finally .” Armantrout’s many books include “ Go Figure ,” “ Finalists ,” “ Conjure ,” and “ Wobble .” Her collection “ Versed ” won a National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Jim Moore joins Kevin Young to read “ I wonder if I will miss the moss ,” by Jane Mead, and his own poem “ Mother .” Moore has published eight poetry collections, including, most recently, “ Prognosis .” He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and multiple Minnesota Book Awards. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Amber Tamblyn joins Kevin Young to read “ The Dahlias ,” by Didi Jackson, and her own poem “ This Living .” Tamblyn, a writer, director, and actor, is the creator of the newsletter “Listening in the Dark” and the editor of an anthology of the same title. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Valzhyna Mort joins Kevin Young to read “ Testimonies , ” by Victoria Amelina, which Mort translated from the Ukrainian, and “ Map ,” by Wisława Szymborska, which was translated, from the Polish, by Clare Cavanagh. Mort’s collection “Music for the Dead and Resurrected” won the 2021 International Griffin Poetry Prize and the 2022 UNT Rilke Prize. Her other honors include a 2021 Rome Prize in literature and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and the Amy Clampitt Fun...
Raymond Antrobus joins Kevin Young to read “ A Protactile Version of ‘Tintern Abbey,’ ” by John Lee Clark, and his own poem “ Signs, Music .” Antrobus has received the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Ted Hughes Award from the Poetry Society, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Lucille Clifton Legacy Award, and a Somerset Maugham Award, among other honors. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Amy Woolard joins Kevin Young to read “Via Negativa,” by Charles Wright, and her own poem “Late Shift.” Woolard, whose debut poetry collection, “Neck of the Woods,” won the 2018 Alice James Award from Alice James Books. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, she’s also a civil-rights attorney and the chief program officer for the ACLU of Virginia. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org...
We have a special episode to share with you today of the daily poetry podcast, “The Slowdown.” “The Slowdown” offers a poem and a moment of reflection in short episodes, each weekday. In this episode, host Major Jackson, reads “Chaos Theory” by Clint Smith. Major writes… “Occasionally, I try to follow the series of decisions that led me to this present, however triumphant or painful. My life wavers between fate and destiny. But then again, poetry brings me to the belief that some mysterious forc...
José Antonio Rodríguez joins Kevin Young to read “[World of the future, we thirsted](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/world-of-the-future-we-thirsted),” by Naomi Shihab Nye, and his own poem “[Tender](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/22/tender).” Rodríguez is a poet, memoirist, and translator whose honors include a Bob Bush Memorial Award from the Texas Institute of Letters and a Discovery Award from the Writers’ League of Texas. He teaches in the M.F.A. program at the ...
Ada Limón joins Kevin Young to read “You Belong to The World,” by Carrie Fountain, and her own poem “Hell or High Water.” Limón is the current United States Poet Laureate and the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. She’s the author of six books—including “The Carrying,” which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry—and the editor of the forthcoming anthology “You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Donika Kelly joins Kevin Young to read “ One Hundred White-Sided Dolphins on a Summer Day, ” by Mary Oliver, and her own poem “ Sixteen Center .” Kelly is the author of two poetry collections, and the recipient of an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Cave Canem Poetry Prize, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and a Kate Tufts Discovery Award. A founding member of the collective Poets at the End of the World, she teaches at the University of Iowa. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Richie Hofmann joins Kevin Young to read “ Twilight ” by Henri Cole, and his own poem “ French Nove l” Hofmann is the author of two collections of poetry and the recipient of a Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Bianca Stone joins Kevin Young to read “ Learning to Read ,” by Franz Wright, and her own poem “ What’s Poetry Like? ” Stone has published several books of poetry and poetry comics, including, most recently, “What Is Otherwise Infinite.” She runs the Ruth Stone House in Vermont, hosts the podcast “Ode & Psyche,” and serves as Editor at Large for Iterant Magazine. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
Evie Shockley joins Kevin Young to read “ Hattie McDaniel Arrives at the Coconut Grove ,” by Rita Dove, and her own poem “ the blessings .” Shockley is the author of six poetry collections and the Zora Neale Hurston Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University. Her honors include the 2023 Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, a Lannan Literary Award, the Stephen Henderson Award, and, twice, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry. Learn about your ad choices: d...
