Poets & Writers Theater

“When I sit down, I invite that muse, that ardor, that passion to get to some place of discovery.” In this preview for the season four premiere of the public television series Poetry in America, poets Richard Blanco and Amanda Gorman, among other writers and scholars, join host Elisa New to discuss two poems by pioneering Black poet Phillis Wheatley. Watch the full episode here.

In this video from The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Amanda Gorman reads her poem “What We Carry,” which appears in her debut collection, Call Us What We Carry (Viking, 2021), set to world-renowned cellist Jan Vogler’s performance of “Suite for Violoncello No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: I. Prélude” by Johann Sebastian Bach.

“I wanted to continue to participate in that tradition of hope-making in every single poem that I wrote,” says Amanda Gorman about frequently listening to Maya Angelou’s inaugural poem “On the Pulse of Morning” in this conversation with Oprah Winfrey for Apple TV Plus.

“Poetry is an art form, but, to me, it’s also a weapon, it’s also an instrument. It’s the ability to make ideas that have been known, felt and said.” In this PBS NewsHour interview, Amanda Gorman speaks with Jeffrey Brown about her love of poetry and the writing process for her poem for this year’s presidential inauguration. Gorman is the nation’s first youth poet laureate and won a Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award from Poets & Writers in 2020.