#39: Li-Young Lee 2004

Rewrite Radio

In this episode of Rewrite Radio, we bring you a session from Festival 2004. Listen in as two poets—Li-Young Lee and Nick Samaras—define the “demonization” of lyrical language and explore the meaning of pauses articulate in poems. Along the way, they reminisce about their lives as readers and writers, speaking about their own stories as pilgrimage. Li-Young Lee has written five highly acclaimed volumes of poetry: Rose; The City in Which I Love You, which was named the Lamont Poetry Selection (now the Laughlin Award); Book of My Nights, which received the William Carlos Williams Award; Behind My Eyes; and, most recently, The Undressing. He is also the author of a memoir, The Winged Seed; this book takes up his parents’ political exile from China, which transported the Lee family first to Indonesia and then to Pennsylvania. Lee has received multiple additional honors, including fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the National Endowment of the Arts, and a Guggenheim. Nick Samaras is the author of two books of poetry. Hands of the Saddlemaker won the Yales Series of Younger Poets Award, followed by American Psalm, World Psalm. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Paris Review, Poetry, and The Kenyon Review, as well as elsewhere. Rewrite Radio is a production of the Calvin Center for Faith and Writing, located on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. Theme music is June 11th by Andrew Starr. Additional sound design by Alejandra Crevier. You can find more information about the Center and its signature event, the Festival of Faith and Writing, online at ccfw.calvin.edu and festival.calvin.edu and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.