Photo caption: Naomi Shihab Nye earned a bachelor's degree in English and world religions from Trinity University in 1974 and has made San Antonio her home ever since.
The Forum series at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire welcomes author and poet Naomi Shihab Nye on Thursday, April 6, an event in collaboration with the Frederick and Joan Christopherson Schmidt Robert Frost Celebration of American Poetry.
The event is set for 7:30 p.m. in Schofield Auditorium. Nye will be introduced by UW-Eau Claire professor emeritus of English Max Garland, Wisconsin’s poet laureate from 2013-14.
General admission tickets to The Forum are available to purchase online and are free to students.
Currently a professor of creative writing and poetry at Texas State University, Nye is an acclaimed poet, essayist and author. Known for works that celebrate the human spirit through the simple elements of everyday life, Nye has written for adults, teens and children in more than 30 published volumes of poetry and essays. She also has published a novel for young-adult readers.
Nye’s work most often reflects her Palestinian-American heritage, the cultural landscape of her Texan home community and her travel experiences throughout Asia and the Middle East.
Kate Hinnant, professor and head of instruction in UW-Eau Claire’s McIntyre Library, was among the selection committee members for this special event and she looks forward to the chance to highlight a talent whose writing she says takes readers on an intellectual and emotional journey.
“Naomi Shihab Nye writes from perspectives that invite us to imagine ourselves as different than we are: maybe we are a Palestinian man, a river, a goat rancher. But she evokes not just difference, but shared questions,” Hinnant says.
“We are excited to bring her to UW-Eau Claire because we see her poetry as both understandable and provocative. Our students and community will enjoy the travels her writing will take them on.”
Nye’s professional accolades include a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Wittner Bynner Fellowship in the Library of Congress, as well as Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets, four Pushcart prizes, and numerous awards and citations for her children’s literature. She was named the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award winner by the National Book Critics Circle.
In 2019, the American Poetry Foundation named Nye the Young People’s Poet Laureate of the Year. For more details about Nye’s life and work, see the Poetry Foundation’s profile of Nye.
To learn more about the Frederick G. and Joan Christopherson Schmidt Robert Frost Collection at UW-Eau Claire, visit the Frost page on the UW-Eau Claire Foundation website.
