November 18, 2009 (REVISED March 2, 2010) Seventeen Writers Featured in “Poet and the Poem” Radio Series for 2010

Seventeen noted writers will be featured in the 2010 season of “The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress.” The radio series is available to all public radio stations via the Public Radio Satellite System’s ContentDepot, starting Jan. 13, 2010.

“The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress” is a series of one-hour shows featuring the country’s top poets, who discuss and read their poems and are interviewed by host Grace Cavalieri, who records the series at the Library. The programs are available to public radio stations free of charge, with unlimited broadcast rights for three years from the date of uplink.

The Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry provides funding for the series, which is produced by Forest Woods Media Productions Inc.

Writers in the 2010 lineup are Venus Thrash, Dai Sil Kim-Gibson, Michael Bywater, Ann Bracken, Nancy White, Mark Dawson, Richard Peabody, Terese Svoboda, Ann Knox, David Gewanter, Cliff Bernier, Barbara Quick, Candace Katz, Naomi Ayala and Joseph Briggs. In addition, two Witter Bynner fellows to be chosen by U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan in early 2010 will be featured.

“Every time I interview a poet I realize how lucky I am. It’s an energetic exchange, where I sometimes forget we have an audience,” Cavalieri said. “Poet Stanley Kunitz said poetry should be an enjoyable conversation between friends. That is what this program is.”

Cavalieri launched the series as a live show in 1977, when she was a founding member of Washington radio station WPFW. For 20 years, until 1997, the hour-long show was broadcast weekly on WPFW and distributed nationally by Pacifica Radio and internationally by Voice of America. In 1998, the program moved to the Library of Congress, where the series is now recorded for distribution. Cavalieri has presented more than 2,000 poets on radio to the nation since 1977.

Cavalieri herself is a poet and the author of 15 books. She is also a playwright, having written 22 plays that were produced on American stages. Cavalieri has won the Allen Ginsberg Award for poetry, the Pen-Fiction Award for story and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Silver Medal. Her recent book, “Water on the Sun,” was listed on the Pen American Center’s “Best Books 2006.” Her latest book “Anna Nicole: Poems” was awarded the 2009 Paterson Award for Literary Excellence.

The series is available to public radio stations; check local radio listings. After broadcast, the programs are available from the Pacifica Radio Archives, (800) 735-0230, extension 261.