RICHARDSON, Texas (Aug. 16, 2006) — Poet Naomi Shihab Nye, who for 30 years has traveled the world giving writing workshops and visiting students, will share a selection of her works as part of the Claire Rich Lecture Series at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) on Wednesday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Jonsson Performance Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
Nye has authored or edited more than 20 works, ranging from picture books to poetry anthologies to novels. She has received numerous honors including the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, four Pushcart Prizes, two Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards and a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets. She has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Lannan Fellow and a Wittner Bynner Fellow. The National Public Radio programs “A Prairie Home Companion” and “The Writer’s Almanac” also have showcased her work, and Nye has been featured on two PBS poetry specials, “The United States of Poetry” and “The Language of Life with Bill Moyers.”
For Nye, a good poem is one that “sizzles inside and makes an electronic connection.” When working with students, Nye “hopes they may guide and inspire one another … jar one another’s sensibilities or stretch one another’s perceptions.”
For the evening’s readings, Nye will concentrate primarily on works from “Fuel,” “You & Yours,” “19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East” and “Habibi.” Published in 2002, “19 Varieties of Gazelle” was a finalist for the National Book Award. “You & Yours” was the 2005 winner of the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award. In 1997, “Habibi” received a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award.
More information about the event is available at http://ah.utdallas.edu/season0607/nye.htm.
The lecture series, which each year features a renowned scholar in the humanities, was established in honor of Claire Rich, a graduate teaching assistant at UTD, after her death in 1997.
For information about the many musical, arts, theatre, dance and other performances and exhibitions held throughout the year at UTD, please call 972-UTD-ARTS (972-883-2787), e-mail utdarts@utdallas.edu, or visit the School of Arts and Humanities’ Web site at http://ah.utdallas.edu/. Persons with disabilities needing special accommodations may call 972-883-2982, Texas Relay Operator: 1-800-RELAYVV.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls nearly 14,500 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.