Award-winning writer Naomi Shihab Nye visits Moscow
A silence blanketed the University of Idaho Menard Law Building courtroom as Naomi Shihab Nye, an award-winning Palestinian-American Poet, read poems Thursday night to an audience of more than 175 UI students, staff, faculty and community members.
Genie Tran | Argonaut
Award-winning Palestinian-American Poet Naomi Shinab Nye came and read her poems Thursday in the UI College of Law courtroom.
Nye read “Listening” by William Stafford first Thursday night. She said she first read it as a teenager, which led her to follow his work for the rest of her life.
“This is a voice that I want to follow,” Nye said.
Nye visited UI as part of the Distinguished Visiting Writer Series sponsored by the UI English Department. She has traveled across the world during her 30-year career as a poet, author and speaker.
Nye was born in Ferguson, Missouri, and has lived in Palestine, Jerusalem and San Antonio. She has written several books ranging from poetry to children’s literature and has won several awards from the International Poetry Forum and is the winner of four Pushcart Prizes.
The next poem she read was a self-authored piece, “Jerusalem.” She said it was about her father being hit in the head with a rock while walking down the street in The Holy City and how the wound never really healed.
Her work discusses the human experience, said Bret Shepard, director of creative writing at UI. He said events like poetry readings expose students to things they would not normally be exposed to, which is part of the college experience.
She had a captivated audience as she engulfed herself in her readings — she made hand gestures to emphasize the reactions of the characters in her work and her voice fluctuated as she read through emotionally driven passages.
Drawing inspiration from her own life, Nye said she has written poems and stories about the conflict between Israel and Palestine as well as her experience in a maximum security prison in New York. She said her poems focused on individuals, yet discussed ideas that affect entire nations.
She described herself as a “wandering poet” because she travels the world to teach writing.
“I have never been any place where poetry didn’t live,” Nye said..
Some students in attendance were in awe of her reading, including Tessica Fox, a freshman studying music.
“It wasn’t what I expected,” she said.
Genie Tran | Argonaut
Some, who only attended to get a few extra credit points in a humanities class, were intrigued with the rhythmic way in which Nye read the English language.
“I found it oddly musical,” said Mckenzie Peterson, a senior studying music.
Nye closed her readings with a question and answer session, where students had an opportunity to discuss her work and writing process.
“I have learned what I know about the world, from writing poetry,” she said.
Graham Perednia can be reached at [email protected]