Arthur Sze joins Kevin Young to read “The Problem of Describing Trees,” by Robert Hass, and his own poem “Vectors.” Sze has received the Landon Literary Award, the Jackson Poetry Prize and, in 2019, the National Book Award in Poetry.

Joy Harjo joins Kevin Young to read “Still-Life with Potatoes, Pearls, Raw Meat, Rhinestones, Lard, and Horse Hooves,” by Sandra Cisneros, and her own poem “Running.” Harjo is the current Poet Laureate of the United States, as well as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Her many honors include the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and the Wallace Stevens Award.

In a special episode of the Poetry Podcast, Tracy K. Smith, Marilyn Nelson, and Terrance Hayes join Kevin Young to read their work, and to discuss its relationship to protest and liberation. Tracy K. Smith served two terms as a U.S. poet laureate, and has won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and a Pulitzer prize. Her latest collection is “Wade in the Water.” Marilyn Nelson writes poetry for adults, young adults, and children. Her honors include a Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, an N. S. K. Neustadt...

Clarence Major joins Kevin Young to read “Downpour,” by Billy Collins, and his own poem “Hair.” Major’s recent honors include a PEN Oakland Reginald Lockett Lifetime Achievement Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award in the fine arts from the Congressional Black Caucus foundation. 

Elisa Gonzalez joins Kevin Young to read “Gathering Apricots,” by Czeslaw Milosz, translated by Robert Hass, and her own poem “Failed Essay on Privilege.” Gonzalez was recently a Fulbright scholar in Poland, and her work has received support from the Norman Mailer Foundation and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.

Ben Purkert joins Kevin Young to read “Notes on the Reality of the Self,” by Jorie Graham, and his own poem “News.” Purkert began contributing poetry to The New Yorker in 2012, and his début poetry collection, “For the Love of Endings,” was published in 2018. 

Kwame Dawes joins Kevin Young to read “The Season of Phantasmal Peace,” by Derek Walcott, and his own poem “Before Winter.” Dawes is the author of over twenty books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. His many honors include a 2019 Windham Campbell Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Barnes and Noble Writers for Writers Award, and the Ford Prize for Poetry.

Ellen Bass joins Kevin Young to read “Quahogs,” by Frank X. Gaspar, and her own poem “Because.” A chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Bass has received the Lambda Literary Award for poetry, the Pablo Neruda Prize for poetry, and fellowships from the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Mary Jo Bang joins Kevin Young to to discuss her translation of Dante’s Purgatorio, excerpts of which are featured on newyorker.com. Bang is a poet who has received the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Hodder Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Berlin Prize Fellowship. Her latest book is “A Doll for Throwing.”

Shane McCrae joins Kevin Young to to discuss his poetry sequence “Jim Limber in Heaven,” featured on newyorker.com. McCrae is a poet whose whose work has received such honors as a Whiting Award, an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and a Lannan Literary Award. He was also a finalist for the National Book Award.

Vijay Seshadri joins Kevin Young to read “The Moon and the Yew Tree,” by Sylvia Plath, and his own poem “Cliffhanging.” Seshadri is a poet whose work has been honored with the James Laughlin Award and the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. His latest book is “3 Sections,” and he recently became the poetry editor of The Paris Review.

Eliza Griswold joins Kevin Young to discuss her poetry sequence "First Person," featured on newyorker.com. Griswold is a poet and journalist who has contributed to The New Yorker since 2003. She is the author of, most recently, "Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America," which won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. Her new poetry collection, "If Men, Then," will be published in 2020. 

Ariel Francisco joins Kevin Young to read "By a Lake in Minnesota," by James Wright, and his own poem "Along the East River and in the Bronx Young Men Were Singing." Francisco is a poet and translator who published his debut poetry collection, "All My Heroes Are Broke," in 2017. His new book, "A Sinking Ship is Still a Ship," is forthcoming in 2020.

Campbell McGrath joins Kevin Young to discuss “Realism” by Czeslaw Milosz, and his own poem, “The Human Heart.” McGrath has published several poetry collections and received fellowships from the Library of Congress, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. His latest book is "Nouns & Verbs: New and Selected Poems."

Natasha Trethewey joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Charles Wright's poem "Toadstools," and her own poem "Repentance." Trethewey, a former United States Poet Laureate, is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her most recent poetry collection is "Monument."

Safiya Sinclair joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Natalie Diaz's poem "From the Desire Field" and her own poem "Gospel of the Misunderstood." Sinclair is the author of the poetry collection "Cannibal" and the forthcoming memoir "How to Say Babylon."

Rachel Eliza Griffiths joins Kevin Young to discuss "Rain Light" by W.S. Merwin, and her own poem "Heart of Darkness." Griffiths is a poet and artist who has received fellowships from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Cave Canem Foundation, and Yaddo, among others. Her latest book is "Lighting the Shadow."

Peter Balakian joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Theodore Roethke's poem "In a Dark Time" and his own poem "Eggplant." Balakian's latest book is "Ozone Journal," which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Craig Morgan Teicher joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Forrest Gander’s poem “Son” and his own poem, also titled “Son.” Teicher is a poet and critic whose collection "The Trembling Answers" received the 2018 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets.  His latest book is "We Begin in Gladness: How Poets Progress."

Deborah Landau joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Anne Sexton's poem "Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman" and her own poem "Solitaire." Landau's poetry collections include “The Uses of the Body” and “The Last Usable Hour,” both Lannan Literary Selections; the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Robert Dana Anhinga Prize for Poetry, she directs the creative writing program at New York University.

Kaveh Akbar joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Ellen Bryant Voigt’s poem "Groundhog" and his own poem "What Use is Knowing Anything If No One Is Around". Akbar is the author of the poetry collection “Calling a Wolf a Wolf,” as well as the recipient of a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and the 2018 Levis Reading Prize.

Nick Flynn joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Zoë Hitzig’s poem “Objectivity as Blanket" and his own poem “The King of Fire.” Flynn's latest poetry collection is “My Feelings"; he will publish two new books, "Stay" and "I Will Destroy You," in 2019. Flynn has received the Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, as well as awards and fellowships from PEN, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Library of Congress.

Catherine Barnett joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Wislawa Szymborska's poem "Maybe All This" (translated, from the Polish, by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Barańczak) and her own poem "Son in August." Barnett is the author of the poetry collections "Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced," "The Game of Boxes," and "Human Hours," out in September.

Nicole Sealey joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Ellen Bass' poem "Indigo" and her own poem “A Violence." Sealey is the executive director at the Cave Canem Foundation and the author of the poetry collection "Ordinary Beast."

Tiana Clark joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Natasha Trethewey's poem "Repentance," and her own poem, "Nashville." Tiana Clark is the author of the chapbook "Equilibrium," which won the 2016 Frost Place Chapbook Prize. Her first full-length book of poems, "I Can't Talk About the Trees Without the Blood," winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize, will be published in September. Natasha Trethewey won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her collection "Native Guard," and was the United...