Tag Archives: Poetry

Boots Riley with Robin D. G. Kelley, Conversation, 11 September 2019 – Video

CORRECTED. We apologize for the typo on the previous video post.

Recorded at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on September 11, 2019.

Boots Riley is a provocative and prolific poet, rapper, songwriter, producer, screenwriter, director, community organizer, and public speaker. He is the lead vocalist of The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club. His directorial debut, the comedy-fantasy-sci-fi film Sorry to Bother You, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Fervently dedicated to social change, Riley was deeply involved with the Occupy Oakland movement and was one of the leaders of the activist group the Young Comrades. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Tell Homeland Security—We Are the Bomb.

This was a Readings and Conversations event.

In this episode, Boots Riley is introduced by and in conversation with Robin D. G. Kelley.

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also listen to the audio recording of this event there. Photos from this event are available on Flickr.

Boots Riley with Robin D. G. Kelley, 11 September 2019 – Audio

Boots Riley in conversation with Robin D. G. Kelley in Santa Fe, NM

Boots Riley is a provocative and prolific poet, rapper, songwriter, producer, screenwriter, director, community organizer, and public speaker. He is the lead vocalist of The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club. His directorial debut, the comedy-fantasy-sci-fi film Sorry to Bother You, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Fervently dedicated to social change, Riley was deeply involved with the Occupy Oakland movement and was one of the leaders of the activist group the Young Comrades. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Tell Homeland Security—We Are the Bomb.

Recorded at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on September 11, 2019.

This was a Readings and Conversations event.

In this episode, Boots Riley joined Robin D. G. Kelley in conversation.

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also listen to the audio recording of this event there. Photos from this event are available on Flickr.

Elizabeth Alexander with Maureen Corrigan, Conversation, 30 September 2015 – Video

Recorded at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on September 30, 2015.

This event was part of the Lannan Literary series.

Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, essayist, playwright and author of the recent memoir, The Light of the World, a story of love and loss following the sudden death of her husband. Of the book, Joyce Carol Oates said, “Both a memoir and a portrait of marriage, The Light of the World, is as its title suggests, a bittersweet testament to love and the memory of love, one of the most compelling memoirs of loss that I have ever read.”

Elizabeth Alexander composed and delivered a poem, “Praise Song for the Day,” at the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009. Alexander has been contributing to ongoing conversations about race, immigration, and social justice throughout her career. She once remarked, “Poetry is not meant to cheer; rather, poetry challenges, and moves us towards transformation.”

The former Chair of Yale University’s Department of African American Studies, Alexander serves as Yale’s Thomas E. Donnelley Professor of African American Studies and the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the first Alphonse Fletcher St. Fellowship. Dr. Alexander is currently at work on an anthology of 300 years of African American poetry.

In this episode she is joined in conversation with Maureen Corrigan. The companion Reading episode may be found here.

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also listen to the audio recording of this event there.

Additional photos of this event are available on Flickr.

Elizabeth Alexander with Maureen Corrigan, Reading, 30 September 2015 – Video

Recorded at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on September 30, 2015.

This event was part of the Lannan Literary series.

Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, essayist, playwright and author of the recent memoir, The Light of the World, a story of love and loss following the sudden death of her husband. Of the book, Joyce Carol Oates said, “Both a memoir and a portrait of marriage, The Light of the World, is as its title suggests, a bittersweet testament to love and the memory of love, one of the most compelling memoirs of loss that I have ever read.”

Elizabeth Alexander composed and delivered a poem, “Praise Song for the Day,” at the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009. Alexander has been contributing to ongoing conversations about race, immigration, and social justice throughout her career. She once remarked, “Poetry is not meant to cheer; rather, poetry challenges, and moves us towards transformation.”

The former Chair of Yale University’s Department of African American Studies, Alexander serves as Yale’s Thomas E. Donnelley Professor of African American Studies and the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the first Alphonse Fletcher St. Fellowship. Dr. Alexander is currently at work on an anthology of 300 years of African American poetry.

In this episode she is introduced by Maureen Corrigan and then reads from her work. The companion Conversation episode may be found here.

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also listen to the audio recording of this event there.

Additional photos of this event are available on Flickr.

Elizabeth Alexander with Maureen Corrigan, 30 September 2015 – Audio

ecorded at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on September 30, 2015.

Elizabeth Alexander with Maureen Corrigan, 30 September 2015

This event was part of the Lannan Literary series.

Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, essayist, playwright and author of the recent memoir, The Light of the World, a story of love and loss following the sudden death of her husband. Of the book, Joyce Carol Oates said, “Both a memoir and a portrait of marriage, The Light of the World, is as its title suggests, a bittersweet testament to love and the memory of love, one of the most compelling memoirs of loss that I have ever read.”

Elizabeth Alexander composed and delivered a poem, “Praise Song for the Day,” at the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009. Alexander has been contributing to ongoing conversations about race, immigration, and social justice throughout her career. She once remarked, “Poetry is not meant to cheer; rather, poetry challenges, and moves us towards transformation.

The former Chair of Yale University’s Department of African American Studies, Alexander serves as Yale’s Thomas E. Donnelley Professor of African American Studies and the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry. She has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the first Alphonse Fletcher St. Fellowship. Dr. Alexander is currently at work on an anthology of 300 years of African American poetry.

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also view the video recordings of this event there.

Additional photos of this event are available on Flickr.

Claudia Rankine with Saskia Hamilton, Conversation, 6 May 2015 – Video

Recorded at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on May 6, 2015.

This event was part of the Lannan Literary series.

Claudia Rankine is the author of five collections of poetry, including, most recently, Citizen: An American Lyric (Graywolf, 2014) which continues Rankine’s unique genre and presents a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism on society. Another collection, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely (Graywolf, 2004), is a multi-genre experimental project, blending poetry, essays, and images, of which she writes, “Forgiveness, I finally decide, is not the death of amnesia, nor is it a form of madness as Derrida claims. For the one who forgives, it is simply a death, a dying down in the heart, the position of the already dead.” In praise, Jorie Graham wrote, “Rankine breaks out of virtual emotion, reawakens honesty, and exhibits such raw political courage and aesthetic bravery it sends tremors through the entire field of American poetry as she finds it.”

Her plays include Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue, which was commissioned by the Foundry Theatre, and Existing Conditions (co-authored with Casey Llewellyn).

In this episode she is joined in conversation with Saskia Hamilton. The companion Reading episode may be found here.

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also listen to the audio recording of this event there.

Additional photos of this event are available on Flickr.

Claudia Rankine with Saskia Hamilton, Reading, 6 May 2015 – Video

Recorded at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on May 6, 2015.

This event was part of the Lannan Literary series.

Claudia Rankine is the author of five collections of poetry, including, most recently, Citizen: An American Lyric (Graywolf, 2014) which continues Rankine’s unique genre and presents a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism on society. Another collection, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely (Graywolf, 2004), is a multi-genre experimental project, blending poetry, essays, and images, of which she writes, “Forgiveness, I finally decide, is not the death of amnesia, nor is it a form of madness as Derrida claims. For the one who forgives, it is simply a death, a dying down in the heart, the position of the already dead.” In praise, Jorie Graham wrote, “Rankine breaks out of virtual emotion, reawakens honesty, and exhibits such raw political courage and aesthetic bravery it sends tremors through the entire field of American poetry as she finds it.”

Her plays include Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue, which was commissioned by the Foundry Theatre, and Existing Conditions (co-authored with Casey Llewellyn).

In this episode she is introduced by Saskia Hamilton and then reads from her work. The companion Conversation episode may be found here.

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also listen to the audio recording of this event there.

Additional photos of this event are available on Flickr.

Claudia Rankine with Saskia Hamilton, 6 May 2015 – Audio

Recorded at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on May 6, 2015.

Claudia Rankine with Saskia Hamilton

This event was part of the Lannan Literary series.

Claudia Rankine is the author of five collections of poetry, including, most recently, Citizen: An American Lyric (Graywolf, 2014) which continues Rankine’s unique genre and presents a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism on society. Another collection, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely (Graywolf, 2004), is a multi-genre experimental project, blending poetry, essays, and images, of which she writes, “Forgiveness, I finally decide, is not the death of amnesia, nor is it a form of madness as Derrida claims. For the one who forgives, it is simply a death, a dying down in the heart, the position of the already dead.” In praise, Jorie Graham wrote, “Rankine breaks out of virtual emotion, reawakens honesty, and exhibits such raw political courage and aesthetic bravery it sends tremors through the entire field of American poetry as she finds it.”

Her plays include Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue, which was commissioned by the Foundry Theatre, and Existing Conditions (co-authored with Casey Llewellyn).

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also view the video recordings of this event there.

Additional photos of this event are available on Flickr.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz with Cecilia Ballí, 16 April 2014 – Audio

Recorded at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico on April 16, 2014.

Benjamin Alire Saenz with Cecilia Balli

This event was part of the Lannan Literary Series

Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s latest book, Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club, is a collection of stories whose characters are all tied in one way or another to this famed watering hole on the Avenida Juárez, where the author says, “people go when they’re in trouble, when they’re looking for trouble or when they’re trying to get out of trouble.” A prolific writer and master of many genres, his books include the novel Carry Me Like Water, the young adult book Sammy & Juliana in Hollywood, and the poetry collection Dark and Perfect Angels.

Named one of 2010’s “Fifty of the Most Inspiring Authors in the World” by Poets & Writers magazine, Sáenz studied philosophy and theology and was a Wallace E. Stegner fellow in poetry at Stanford University. Born in Old Picacho, New Mexico in 1954, Sáenz has been a member of the faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso since 1992.

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also view the video recordings of this event there.

Additional photos of this event are available on Flickr.

Carrie Fountain with Naomi Shihab Nye, 16 March 2014 – Video

Recorded at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico on March 16, 2014, as part of Lannan’s Poetry Sundays.

Carrie Fountain’s poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Tin House, and Poetry, among other publications. Her debut collection, Burn Lake, was a 2009 National Poetry Series winner and was published in 2010 by Penguin. Born and raised in Mesilla, New Mexico, Fountain received her MFA as a fellow at the James A. Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas and teaches at St. Edward’s University in Austin, where she lives with her husband, the playwright Kirk Lynn, and their two children. Her second collection, Instant Winner, will be published by Penguin in October of 2014.

You may learn more about this event on the Lannan website; you may also listen to the audio recording of this event there.