"her poems combine transcendent liveliness and sparkle along with warmth and human insight. She is a champion of the literature of encouragement and heart. Reading her work enhances life."

-- William Stafford

Jessie Smith and Kristen Orchard

Naomi Nye Naomi Nye

Background Information • Born March 12, 1952 in St. Louis, MO (but well traveled)

• Parents from different cultural backrounds

• Married 1978, one son

• B.A. from Trinity University

• Also a singer and a teacher of a poetry workshop

• Published first poem at age seven

• selected by Texas Monthly as one of the "20 most impressive, intriguing and influential Texans”

• First collection was "Different Ways to Pray"

Awards/Honors:

Award from Texas Institute of Letters, the Carity Randall Prize, Jane Addams Children's Book award, and the Paterson Poetry Prize, the International Poetry Forum, four Pushcart

Prizes, Academy of American Poets' Lavan Award, Voertman Poetry Prize, a Lannan Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Wittner Bynner Fellowship.

Common Themes

CultureDiversity

Racism Ancestry Family

Influences• Cultural background

– Mother was American – Father was Palestinian – Mexican American peers/neighbors

•Parents example

•Weaken the idea that all Arabs are terrorists through poems

“For me the primary source of poetry has always been local life, random characters met on the street, our own ancestry sifting down to us through small essential daily tasks”

-Naomi Nye

The Critics Say• ““brings attension to the female as a humorous, wry creature with brings attension to the female as a humorous, wry creature with

brisk, hard intelligence and a sense of personal freedom unheard brisk, hard intelligence and a sense of personal freedom unheard of” – Contributor of of” – Contributor of Contemporary PoetsContemporary Poets

• Nineteen Variations of Gazelle Nineteen Variations of Gazelle “will spark discussion and bring “will spark discussion and bring readers up close” (to what war and vengence really mean) – readers up close” (to what war and vengence really mean) – Hazel Rochman Hazel Rochman

• ““playfully and imaginatively instructive” – Contributor to playfully and imaginatively instructive” – Contributor to Contemporary Southern WritersContemporary Southern Writers

• ““ability to draw clear parallels between the ordinary and sublime” ability to draw clear parallels between the ordinary and sublime” – Jane L. Tanner– Jane L. Tanner

The Critics Say cont.

• Hugging the Jukebox Hugging the Jukebox “warmth and celebratory tone” – Various “warmth and celebratory tone” – Various reviewersreviewers

• ““the fabric is thin and the mundaneness of the action shows the fabric is thin and the mundaneness of the action shows through” – Mary Loguethrough” – Mary Logue

• ““seems to be in good, easy relation with earth and its peoples” – seems to be in good, easy relation with earth and its peoples” – David KirbyDavid Kirby

• range from “playful to pensive” -- Shelle Rosenfeldrange from “playful to pensive” -- Shelle Rosenfeld

• ““international in scope and internal in focus” – Jane L. Tannerinternational in scope and internal in focus” – Jane L. Tanner

We Agree…1) “brings attension to the female

as a humorous, wry creature with brisk, hard intelligence and a sense of personal freedom unheard of”

2) “ability to draw clear parallels between the ordinary and sublime”

3) .range from “playful to pensive”

4) “international in scope and internal in focus”

5) “playfully and imaginatively instructive”

6) .Hugging the Jukebox “warmth and celebratory tone”

1) Celebrates differences in genders (I Feel a Little Jumpy around You ) female characters- strong, independent, personality, My Friends Divorce

2) Ordinary objects, people, events more complicate, deeper meaning, The Attic and its Nails

3) Poems with no deeper meaning, simple to poems addressing complicated moral and political issues

4) Many cultures, about many types of people but all very personal

5) Enlighten and inform readers about racial and cultural issues w/o hateful or forceful tone

6) This poem is as well as others, none angry or hateful tone, seems to be celebrating life even with its imperfection

We Disagree…

1) “will spark discussion and bring readers up close” (to what war and vengence really mean)

2) “the fabric is thin and the mundaneness of the action shows through”

3) “seems to be in good, easy relation with earth and its peoples”

1) Not her purpose- wanted to cause subtle awareness, people silently agree w/ her, a call for peace

2) The ordinariness and lack of action in some of her poems are effective, readers can relate

3) Means she is in good relations with society, in some poems points out things she doesn’t like in society

List of Works Cited• McQuien, Paul, and Kim G. Hochmeister. "Naomi Shihab Nye." Literary San

Antonio. 2006. 12 Apr. 2007 <http://www.accd.edu>.

• "Naomi Shihab Nye." Poets. 2007. The Academy of American Poets. 16 Apr. 2007 <http://www.poets.org>.

• Nye, Naomi S. 19 Varieties of Gazelle. 1st ed. Greenwillow Brooks, 2002.

• Nye, Naomi S. Fuel. Rochester, New York: Boa Editions, Ltd., 1998.

• Nye, Naomi S. Red Suitcase. Brockport, New York: BOA Editions, Ltd., 1994.

• "Transcript: Naomi Shihab Nye: a Bill Moyers Interview." PBS. 2007. Public Broadcasting Service. 17 Apr. 2007 <http://www.pbs.org>.