Poets & Writers Theater

“If the only thing we can give to each other is ourselves, we better do it. Now.” In this inaugural Speak Now series event hosted by Columbia University School of the Arts, Claudia Rankine reads from her work-in-progress “Triage” and discusses political censorship in higher education and the importance of literature in crises in a conversation with Sarah Cole.

In this video, South Korean poet Kim Hyesoon reads with her longtime translator Don Mee Choi, both sharing their work and speaking about their writing and collaboration with Susan Bernofsky, director of Literary Translation at Columbia University. Choi’s latest poetry collection, Mirror Nation (Wave Books, 2024), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Language is tough. Using the right words is so important to me.” Paul Beatty, author of the Man Booker Prize–winning novel, The Sellout (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), speaks about the labor of writing and his advice to students on Late Night With Seth Meyers.

Award-winning novelist, essayist, lyricist, and screenwriter Nick Hornby visits Columbia University’s Heyman Center to talk with poet and Barnard professor Saskia Hamilton.