10 Years at 10 River Terrace: Highlights from the Axe-Houghton Multimedia Collection
In celebration of our tenth year at 10 River Terrace, Reginald Harris, Poets House Director of Library Outreach, curated this roundup of program highlights from the Axe-Houghton Multimedia Collection. Harris combed our Collection, gathering voices across time and all over the world who met at Poets House to share their poetry and knowledge. The Axe-Houghton Multimedia Archive as an integral part of our work at Poets House, encompassing not only our history in Battery Park City but also Spring Street and our earliest days. Scroll down to view program descriptions and links to full programs.
Highlights from the Axe-Houghton Multimedia Collection include: Adonis with Marilyn Hacker, Pierre Joris, and Lawrence Joseph; Coleman Barks; Mark Doty; Cedar Cigo; Alice Notley; Jane Hirshfield; Rickey Laurentiis; Colleen J. McElroy; Kaveh Akbar; Fay Chiang with Bob Holman, Patricia Spears Jones, and Jessica Hagedorn; and Yanyi!
2010
A Mirror for the Twentieth Century: An Evening with Adonis
Born in Syria in 1930, Adonis is one of the most revered and influential poets of the Arabic-speaking world. In honor of his 80th birthday, Adonis reads from and discusses the newly published translation into English by (Khaled Mattawa) of his Selected Poems. Adonis is joined by poets and translators Marilyn Hacker, Pierre Joris, and Lawrence Joseph.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to listen to the full audio: 2010: A Mirror for the Twentieth Century: An Evening with Adonis.
2011
Passwords: Coleman Barks on Rumi
In this Poets House 25th Anniversary Program, poet and preeminent translator of the mystic poet Rumi, Coleman Barks reads from his translations of the poet and discusses the power of 13th – to 14th – century mystical Sufi poetry.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to view more excerpts: 2011: Passwords: Coleman Barks on Rumi
2012
Passwords: Mark Doty on Walt Whitman
National Book Award winning poet Mark Doty leads a close reading of Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself,” as well as other works from Leaves of Grass.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to listen to the full audio: 2012: Passwords: Mark Doty on Walt Whitman
2013
Native Innovation: Indigenous American Poetry in the 21st Century
Poet Cedar Cigo‘s poem “Becoming Visable,” from Native Innovation: Indigenous American Poetry in the 21st Century, a landmark symposium bringing together a new generation of Native American poets in a convocation of readings and conversations for an in-depth look at the dynamic state of current Native American poetry and poetics in the 21st century.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to listen to the full audio: 2013: Craft Presentations and Discussion with Jennifer Foerster, Maurice Kenny, Cedar Sigo & James Thomas Stevens.
2014
On the Poetry Talent with Alice Notley
Award-winning and prolific poet Alice Notley leads an autobiographically-inspired discussion of the poetry talent – its rarity, mystery, and importance in the education and nurture of poets.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to listen to the full audio: 2014: On the Poetry Talent with Alice Notley
2015
A Seismographic Attention: An Evening with Jane Hirshfield
Jane Hirshfield, one of the foremost poets of her generation and a master illuminator of poetic craft, reads from her two most recent books, The Beauty (poems) and Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World (essays), and engages the audience in a conversation about the ways poetic language, attention, and word-craft navigate and enlarge both our personal and shared existence.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to listen to the full audio: 2015: A Seismographic Attention: An Evening with Jane Hirshfield
2016
Kinship: Poetic Memoir with Colleen J. McElroy
Although Thomas Wolfe wrote, “you can’t go home again,” Colleen J. McElroy argues that you can recreate the home you thought you knew. In this craft talk, McElroy examines how “triggering town,” as described by Richard Hugo, has evoked and inspired her writing and how poetry is the folkloric vehicle by which she travels. McElroy is the author of several poetry collections, including Queen of the Ebony Isles, winner of the American Book Award, and most recently Blood Memory.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to listen to the full audio: 2016: Kinship: Poetic Memoir with Colleen J. McElroy
2017
Necessary Cuts: Rickey Laurentiis on Revision at Poets House
Rickey Laurentiis examines how writers can enact revision in their language, politics and lives via a poem. Laurentiis unpacks what it means to return and revise—connecting, crossing, and shaping context— until, like Michelangelo, you find the angel in the marble and set it free.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to listen to the full audio: 2017: Necessary Cuts: Rickey Laurentiis on Revision at Poets House
2018
Passwords: A Tribute to Fay Chiang with Bob Holman, Patricia Spears Jones & Jessica Hagedorn
A poet and community activist who supported the diverse cultures of Chinatown and the Lower East Side through education and artistic initiatives, including her stint as the executive director of the Basement Workshop—the first Asian American multidisciplinary cultural organization in New York City—Fay Chiang was a beloved and transformative figure of New York City’s downtown. Participants read from Chiang’s writing, supported by violinist Jason Kao Hwang, and remember her life and work.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to listen to the full audio: 2018: Passwords: A Tribute to Fay Chiang with Bob Holman, Patricia Spears Jones & Jessica Hagedorn
2018 Bonus
Showcase Opening Reading: Kaveh Akbar, Tarfia Faizullah, and Brenda Hillman
The annual Poets House Showcase is a free exhibit featuring 1000s of new poetry books published in the previous 18 months. 2018 featured readings by Kaveh Akbar (Calling a Wolf a Wolf, Alice James Books), Tarfia Faizullah (Registers of Illuminated Villages, Graywolf Press), and Brenda Hillman (Extra Hidden Life, among the Days, Wesleyan), among may others.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to listen to the full audio: 2018: Showcase Opening Reading: Kaveh Akbar, Tarfia Faizullah, and Brenda Hillman
2019
Craft Talk: The Revolution Is Emotional: Recovering Art & Community with Yanyi
Former Emerging Poets Fellow Yanyi returns to Poets House to give a talk on his debut book, The Year of Blue Water (Yale, 2019), chosen by Carl Phillips for the 2018 Yale Younger Poets Prize. Yanyi will explore how his collection investigates a self in crisis, queerness, and the dialogues that connect the living and dead.
Listen to an excerpt introduced by Reginald Harris:
Click here to listen to the full audio: 2019: Craft Talk: The Revolution Is Emotional: Recovering Art & Community with Yanyi