Poetry (Audio)

A remarkably strong generation of women poets has emerged in Korea in the last decade. Five of them visited Berkeley, reading, and talking to Korean-American poets and the women poets of the Bay Area. This is a very rare chance to hear some of the most important and exciting voices in Asia: Jeongrye Choi, Young Mi Choi, Hwang Insuk, Chung-hee Moon and Ra Heeduk. They will read their work in English and Korean. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15433]

Israeli writer David Grossman is the author of some of the most controversial books in his country’s history, including the award-winning “The Yellow Wind,” observations collected over three months in the West Bank. He reads and discusses work from his forthcoming collection of essays on literature and politics “Writing in the Dark.” Series: "Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 15421]

Harry Kreisler welcomes historian Joan Wallach Scott who traces her intellectual odyssey and recalls the impact of the women's movement on her research and teaching. She describes the intellectual influences that led her to write the now classic article, "Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis." She also discusses the utility of critical history for elucidating contemporary policy debates with a focus on her recent book "The Politics of the Veil," an analysis of the political, cultural, and social factors that led to the French ban on the wearing of the veil by Muslim young women in public schools. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 16278]

Born in San Francisco in 1930, world-renowned poet, essayist, and environmentalist Gary Snyder has published sixteen books of poetry and prose, and received the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 for Turtle Island. Snyder has traveled widely and lived for extended periods of time in Japan, where he studied and practiced Rinzai Zen. He is currently a professor at University of California, Davis. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15432]

Brian McLaren, author of the groundbreaking “Everything Must Change,” again shows his penchant for challenging conventional thinking about faith and religion in this interview with host Dean Nelson as part of the 2009 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 15700]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Roya Hakakian whose book "Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran," chronicles her intellectual odyssey from teenage rebel to Iranian-American writer. In the conversation, Roya Hakakian reflects on the craft of writing, the importance of poetry in Iranian culture, the betrayal of the revolution by the Ayatollahs and the impact of the revolution on the Jewish community in Iran. She also compares the struggle within both Islam and Judaism as young people reconcile modernity with religious identity. Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 16283]

Thomas E. Ricks is The Washington Post’s special military correspondent and a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He discusses his book, The Gamble, his second installment on the Iraq War story. Series: "Voices" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 16445]

Political satirist (”Thank You For Smoking”) Christopher Buckley brings down the house in this raucous interview with host Dean Nelson as part of the 2009 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea, sponsored by Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 15782]

One of the great postwar Central European poets, Slovenian Tomaz Salamun has published over thirty books. He has taught at universities around the world. He reads to an audience at UC Berkeley. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15431]

Songwriters Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield, Poco) and Greg Laswell (Three Flights From Alto Nido) share tips on composing lyrics and then play music for host Karl Martin as part of the 2009 Writer’s Symposium by the Sea sponsored by the Point Loma Nazarene University. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 15699]

U.S. Army Captain Craig Mullaney tells the story of his personal evolution, moving from his blue-collar upbringing in Rhode Island through his education at West Point and as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, to his deployment as an infantry platoon leader along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mullaney's "unforgiving minute" came as he learned of the first casualty among his men in Afghanistan. Hailed as a thoughtful and compelling coming-of-age story, his book is a sustained meditation on the intellectual and physical discipline and the emotional compassion required of a wartime officer. Series: "Revelle Forum" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 15602]

Born in Odessa, Ilya Kaminsky immigrated to the United States in 1993 when his family was granted asylum by the American government. Kaminsky teaches comparative literature, poetry and literary translation at San Diego State University. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15428]

Tracy K. Smith received degrees in English and creative writing from Harvard and Columbia, and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford. Her first book, The Body's Question, was awarded the 2002 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and her most recent collection, Duende: Poems, received the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. She teaches creative writing at Princeton. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15430]

Robin Blaser emerged from the Berkeley Renaissance of the 1940s and ‘50s along with Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan, and later established himself as one of Canada’s foremost experimental poets. In addition to numerous works of poetry, criticism, and translation, Blaser has also penned an English and Latin opera libretto entitled The Last Supper in collaboration with Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 15429]

Washington Post Associate Editor and Senior Correspondent Robert Kaiser previews his forthcoming book, “So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government,” by offering an insider’s perspective on how special interests have distorted lawmakers’ priorities and damaged Washington politics. Series: "Revelle Forum" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 15601]