Kay Ryan -- Photo by Abby Brack
Kay Ryan, the 16th Poet Laureate of the United States (2008-2010) and a person of wry wisdom, today won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
Hear, hear!
Specifically, the prize was for her book “The Best of It: New and Selected Poems” (Grove Press). The Pulitzer people described the book this way: “a body of work spanning 45 years, witty, rebellious and yet tender, a treasure trove of an iconoclastic and joyful mind.”
During her tenure as Poet Laureate, Ryan – whose day job for 30 years was teaching remedial English part-time at the College of Marin in Kentfield, Calif. – established a poetry-writing contest for community-college students called “Poetry for the Mind’s Joy.”
You can watch Kay Ryan, reading her own poetry at the National Book Festival, here.
April 19, 2011 at 9:13 am
How wonderful!!
April 22, 2011 at 1:52 pm
YAYYY!!! We were SO very lucky here at the Library of Congress to have her as Poet Laureate. I never knew words could be/do/have what Kay Ryan fashions them into… being/making/carrying.
I know that theoretically EVERY experience in life changes us… but experiencing Kay Ryan’s poetry, especially as presented by her, makes the changes immediately sensate.