''The Poet and the Poem'' is an hour-long radio interview program hosted by

Grace Cavalieri Grace Cavalieri is an American poet, playwright, and radio host of the Library of Congress program '' The Poet and the Poem''. In 2019, she was appointed the tenth Poet Laureate of Maryland. Education * BS - Education: English and History, The ...

featuring with leading

poets A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and sponsored by the Library of Congress and the Witter Bynner Foundation.

History

The program was started in 1977 by the poet and playwright Grace Cavalieri. The program was first broadcast from

WPFW WPFW (89.3 FM) is a talk and jazz music community radio station serving the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It is owned by the Pacifica Foundation, and its studios are located on K Street Northwest. History WPFW launched at 8 p.m. ...

in Washington, DC. Cavalieri brought the program to the Library of Congress in 1997. The programs archives are stored at the Gelman Library at George Washington University

Featured interviews

The show regularly features interviews with writers from across the country. Poets featured have included Abhay K,

Francisco Aragón Francisco Aragón is a Latino poet, editor and writer. Life Born in San Francisco, California, Aragón's parents migrated from Nicaragua in the 1950s. is a graduate of Archbishop Riordan High School. He studied at the University of California ...

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...

Sandra Beasley Sandra Beasley (born May 5, 1980, in Vienna, Virginia) is an American poet and non-fiction writer. Background Beasley graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, earned a B.A. in English ''magna cum laude'' from the U ...

, Lucille Clifton,

Cornelius Eady Cornelius Eady (born 1954) is an American writer focusing largely on matters of Race (classification of human beings), race and society. His poetry often centers on jazz and blues, family life, violence, and societal problems stemming from questi ...

, Forrest Gander, Allen Ginsberg, Terrance Hayes,

Major Jackson Major Jackson (born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American poet and professor at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of five collections of poetry: The Absurd Man (W.W. Norton, 2020), Roll Deep (W.W. Norton, 2015), Holding Company (W ...

, June Jordan, Audre Lorde,

Richard McCann Richard John McCann (December 12, 1949 – January 24, 2021) was an American writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. He lived in Washington, D.C., where he was a longtime professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at American University ...

E. Ethelbert Miller Eugene Ethelbert Miller, best known as E. Ethelbert Miller (born November 20, 1950), is an African-American poet, teacher and literary activist, based in Washington, DC.Hayley Garrison Phillips"Local Legend E. Ethelbert Miller Isn't Going Anywher ...

Naomi Shihab Nye Naomi Shihab Nye ( ar, نعومي شهاب ناي; born March 12, 1952) is an American poet, editor, songwriter, and novelist. Born to a Palestinian father and an American mother, she began composing her first poetry at the age of six. In total ...

Linda Pastan Linda Pastan (born May 27, 1932, in New York) is an American poet of Jewish background. From 1991 to 1995 she was Poet Laureate of Maryland. She is known for writing short poems that address topics like family life, domesticity, motherhood, the fe ...

, Kim Roberts, Henry Taylor,

Emma Trelles Emma Trelles is a Latina poet, writer, professor, and current poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. Life Trelles earned an MFA from Florida International University in the 1990s, where she was mentored by the poet Campbell McGrath and f ...

, David Tucker,

Dan Vera Dan Vera (born South Texas) is an American poet and editor. Career Vera is the author of ''Speaking Wiri Wiri'', (Red Hen Press, 2013) and ''The Space Between Our Danger and Delight'', (Beothuk Books, 2009). His manuscript ''The Guide to Imagi ...

, and Alice Walker. Given the program's longevity and its connection to the Library of Congress, Cavalieri has the distinction of having interviewed the most sitting

poets laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

including

Gwendolyn Brooks Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000) was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetr ...

, Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Donald Hall, Ted Kooser, Stanley Kunitz, Howard Nemerov, Philip Levine, Robert Hass, Robert Pinsky, Kay Ryan and Charles Simic Mark Strand, and Richard Wilbur. The program has also featured interviews with the

Witter Bynner Fellowship Witter Bynner Fellowships are administered by the Library of Congress and sponsored by the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry, an organization that provides grant support for poetry programs through nonprofit organizations. Fellows are chosen by t ...

winners.

Broadcast

Recorded and engineered at the Library of Congress, the program is broadcast on public radio stations across the United States through the Public Radio Exchange and is also available as a free podcast from the Library of Congress website.

References

External links

Program page on the
Library of Congress website {{DEFAULTSORT:Poet and the Poem American poetry American public radio programs Audio podcasts English-language radio programs Library of Congress Arts organizations established in 1977 Poetry organizations 1977 radio programme debuts