On this first day of Poetry Month, Pulitzer prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa meets up with jazz violinist Billy Bang. They’re both veterans who have used their art to deal with painful memories.
Standing on the shoulders of giants
January 5, 2009 By
For the last fourteen years, Russell Goings has been writing about big and small characters in African American history. Now, he’s created a long epic poem meant to match the Iliad, or the tale of Gilgamesh. WNYC’s Siddhartha Mitter reports.
Life and work of Mahmoud Darwish remembered
September 29, 2008 By
The Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who died in August, was considered the most distinguished literary voice of his community. So much so, in fact, that he received a state funeral from the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. Last week Darwish’s New York admirers got together to celebrate his work. WNYC’s Siddhartha Mitter was there.
East Village hosts Howl festival
September 9, 2007 By
This weekend the East Village celebrates its offbeat cultural legacy with the Howl Festival. The event is named for the famous 1957 poem by Allen Ginsberg, who died ten years ago. The neighborhood has gone through big changes, but the festival shows it hasn’t lost its quirkiness. WNYC’s Siddhartha Mitter checked it out.
Young artists bring Langston Hughes’ home back to life
May 1, 2007 By
The poet Langston Hughes died of cancer 40 years ago this month. His work spanned the time from the Harlem Renaissance to the Black Power movement, and he is recognized as one of the great figures of American literature. But Hughes’s longtime home in Harlem hasn’t fared as well as his legacy – until recently. WNYC’s Siddhartha Mitter visited some of the young artists who are bringing the house back to life.
Multi-media work explores post-9/11 American identity
September 9, 2006 By
New York performance poet Sekou Sundiata has been compared to Langston Hughes and Marvin Gaye for his writing about Black America. But 9/11 left him confused about American identity. Out of that he’s built a multi-media work, a cycle of songs, poems and monologs, video and dance. Siddhartha Mitter reports.
