Naomi Shihab Nye to Present Tabet Poetry Reading

Dominican University will present acclaimed poet Naomi Shihab Ney in the Seventh Annual Caeser and Patricia Tabet Poetry Reading on Wednesday, January 29. The program will be held at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center.

The daughter of a Palestinian father and American mother, Nye's experience of cultural difference lends a fresh perspective to ordinary events, with work that is international in scope but meditative in its focus on the prosaic aspects of daily life. A self-described "wandering poet," she is a world traveler and frequently incorporates in her work elements from Eastern, Middle Eastern and Native American religions, evidenced in her first full-length collection of poetry, Different Ways to Pray (1980).

After the attacks on the World Trade Towers in 2001, Nye became an active voice for Arab Americans, speaking out against terrorism and prejudice. Her book, 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (2002) is a collection of her poems dealing with the Middle East and her experiences as an Arab American. The book was a finalist for the National Book Award.

In addition to poetry, Nye has written fiction for children and young adults, as well as a book of essays. Her autobiographical young adult novel, Habibi, features a main character who moves with her Palestinian father to his native country in the 1970s.

Nye was named the 2019 Young People's Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She has been the poetry editor for the Texas Observer for more than 20 years and is a professor of creative writing at Texas State University. She is the recipient of a number of awards, including

the May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award from the American Library Association (2018) and the Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Texas Institute of Letters (2018).

The Tabet Poetry Reading is made possible through the generous support of Dominican University alumna Patricia Tabet.  Since 2013, the program has featured renowned writers such as Li-Young Lee, Luis Alberto Urrea, Stuart Dybek and Julia Alvarez.​

A book signing will follow the reading. Tickets are $10. For more information, visit https://events.dom.edu/naomi-shihab-nye or contact Rachel Hart Winter at (708-) 24-6607.