Award-winning writer and educator Naomi Shihab Nye will present her poetry in the free and public event, "Everything Comes Next — Daily Rebirth Through Reading and Writing," hosted by Moses Brown School, in the school's Alumni Hall, March 11 at 7 p.m.
Nye has written and edited more than 25 volumes and has been recognized by the Guggenheim, Library of Congress, Academy of American Poets and Pushcart Prizes.
"Naomi has visited our campus in the past," said Sandi Seltzer, Moses Brown's communications director. This will be Nye's second visit to the Moses Brown Annual Spring Poetry Reading, after her last appearance eight years ago, she added.
Moses Brown has been hosting readings from well-known poets for over a decade, she said.
Nye was selected by the students for this event. "We host a poet every year," Seltzer said. "The students help pick a poet who is usually of some note."
Previous featured poets include Taha Muhammad Ali, Lucille Clifton, Mark Doty, Toni Blackman and Billy Collins.
Cultural Connections, an organization that coordinates events relating to the arts, asked Nye to come to Providence.
But Nye's visit does not just consist of a poetry reading. On the day of the reading, she will "spend a day in the classroom" with students and will "look at their poems and work with them as well," Seltzer said.
Currently, students are in "pairs working on Naomi's brand of poetry," Seltzer said. As Nye draws from her Palestinian-American heritage in her writing, her lesson will "ask students to draw from their own heritage," Seltzer said.
"We think she's terrific," she added. "We enjoy the time she spends with our kids."
Thursday night, the public is invited to come, enjoy the reading "and share in something that is educational and artistic," she said.
This event is also part of "Raise Your Voice: Examining Culture, Clash, Community and Change," a four-month project that uses artists, poets and scholars to spread Martin Luther King, Jr.'s work toward tolerance and nonviolent conflict resolution throughout secondary schools and adult education classes.
"Raise Your Voice" began at the University of Rhode Island, Seltzer said, and the project is working with a number of schools throughout Rhode Island "teaching King-ian nonviolence."
"Nonviolent conflict resolution is very important to us," she added.
The reading is sponsored by Moses Brown, Cultural Connections, the International Institute of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
