Interesting People Reading Poetry is a short, sound-rich podcast where artists and luminaries read a favorite poem and share what it means to them. Created by Andy & Brendan Stermer.
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This special episode introduces a new ambient album by Andy Stermer, who composes all of our music. Of Modern Poetry is inspired by a selection of poetic masterpieces from the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries, all of which have been featured previously on this show. The seven compositions, arranged chronologically according to the date of each poem’s first publication, offer what we hope you’ll find to be a richly textured sonic meditation on the origins and development of modern poetry. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5fYJ6JsaMRkNKwPSLaQtZa Earlier versions of Andy’s compositions were ins
In this episode, novelist Lisa Ko reads “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?” by Tracy K. Smith. Ko’s first book, The Leavers, was a 2017 National Book Award finalist. Her most recent book, Memory Piece (Riverhead Books, 2024) was described in Electric Literature as “a poignant meditation on late-stage capitalism: what it means to exist in an age of surveillance and government tracking, what it means to create art in an era where identity itself is commodified, and what it means to find purpose.” https://open.spotify.com/episode/7mpEGcGLhQnJBeHegGXazZ?si=f6_qq7awTrCne2k5PfCM-A Tracy K. Smith is an Am
This IPRP Poetry Playlist features a selection of archival recordings from PennSound, a project of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania. The PennSound website includes an extensive audio archive with free recordings of hundreds of poets reading their own work. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LaSIL9xy50Zf8hhFutG7Y?si=rq4P94nZSemjjXV6CWMRtw Tracklist 1. “Long Track Blues” by Sterling Brown appears in The Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown, published by TriQuarterly. A recording of the poem is included in the Sterling Brown archive on PennSound. 2.
In this episode, Amy Dickinson reads “Say It” by Roland Flint. Dickinson wrote the beloved daily advice column “Ask Amy,” which appeared in newspapers across the country from 2003 until her retirement in June of 2024. She is also the author of two memoirs and a new Substack newsletter. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Biu5xhk2gBgrbInN0mccP Roland Flint was born in Park River, North Dakota in 1934. “Say It” was first published in Say It (Dryad Press, 1979). It appears in The Complete Poems of Roland Flint, published by Elizabeth Flint in 2022. We feature one short listener poem at the end of e
In this IPRP Poetry Playlist, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón reads three selections from the anthology You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, out now from Milkweed Editions. The collection, edited and introduced by Limón, offers “fifty poems reflecting on our relationship to the natural world by our most celebrated contemporary writers.” Click here to learn more about the anthology, including upcoming events and how to share your own “You Are Here” nature poem. https://open.spotify.com/episode/21B1WXPUDJ9WNDH4LMROeD TRACKLIST 1. “Reasons to Live” by Ruth Awad 2. “Lullaby for the Grieving” by
In this episode, Roy Foster reads “Sailing to Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats. Foster is Emeritus Professor of Irish History at the University of Oxford and the author of many books, including his classic, two-volume biography of Yeats, published in 1997 and 2003. In a review of the first volume published in the New York Review of Books, the Irish novelist John Banville wrote: “W.B. Yeats: A Life is a great and important work, a triumph of scholarship, thought, and empathy such as one would hardly have thought possible in this age of disillusion. It is an achievement wholly of a scale with
In this IPRP Poetry Playlist, our host Brendan Stermer reads three poems from his debut chapbook, Forgotten Frequencies, out now from North Dakota State University Press. The books were printed in a limited edition at The Braddock News Letterpress Museum in Braddock, ND and assembled by hand by students in the publishing program at North Dakota State University in Fargo. Forgotten Frequencies was selected as the winner of the 2023 Poetry of the Plains & Prairies Award and named a 2024 Midwest Book Awards finalist. Purchase a signed copy of Forgotten Frequencies here. https://open.spotify.com/e
In this episode, musician and writer Dessa reads an excerpt from “Natural Enemies of the Conch” by Alan Dugan. Dessa first gained prominence as a rapper with the Twin Cities hip hop collective Doomtree, but has since worked across many genres and creative disciplines. She has collaborated with the Minnesota Orchestra, published a memoir and poetry collections, and even hosted a BBC science podcast. Her fantastic new album, Bury the Lede, is an embrace of dance floor-ready pop music. https://open.spotify.com/episode/364PtYtwMXPD85nnksKTN1 Alan Dugan was an American poet born in New York City in
For each IPRP Poetry Playlist, we curate a selection of three poems, loosely thematically related, presented with musical score, but without any commentary or historical context. We encourage you to approach these short episodes with the same relaxed attitude you might take toward a playlist on a burnt CD, given to you by a friend, which you casually pop in on a long road trip. Don’t worry about perfect comprehension, and steer clear of academic analysis. Just turn up the volume, roll down your windows, and enjoy the ride. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0XtYuu60adGil55h2PhFFw TRACKLIST 1. “L
In this episode, Tish Harrison Warren reads “Possible Answers to Prayer” by Scott Cairns. Warren is an Anglican priest and the author of two award-winning books, Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night. She also writes a weekly newsletter for the New York Times on “faith in private life and public discourse.” https://open.spotify.com/episode/1AbkP0s1yJuIkhp82QU4lS “Possible Answers to Prayer” by Scott Cairns appears in Slow Pilgrim, published by Paraclete Press. Cairns is an American poet born in 1954. Much of his work explores spiritual themes and is influenced by his Eastern Orthodox
Vocalism, measure, concentration, determination, and the divine power to speak words; Are you full-lung’d and limber-lipp’d from long trial? from vigorous practice? from physique? –WALT WHITMAN What would it be like to experience a selection of poems with the same relaxed attitude you might take toward a playlist on a burnt CD, given to you by a friend, which you casually pop in on a long road trip? That’s the question we’re exploring with this new, extra-short episode format, which we’ll be publishing in-between our full-length releases. We’re calling it a Poetry Playlist: three poems, loosel
In this episode, Alissa Rubin reads an excerpt from the ancient Greek epic The Iliad. Rubin is a Senior International Correspondent for The New York Times. She worked previously as the Bureau Chief in Baghdad, Paris, and Kabul. In 2016, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for “thoroughly reported and movingly written accounts giving voice to Afghan women who were forced to endure unspeakable cruelties.” https://open.spotify.com/episode/7obE0bUZiGyAzOr7e6iI5x The passage that Rubin selected is from the very last book of The Iliad, and portrays an encounter between the
In this episode, Makoto Fujimura reads an excerpt from “Burnt Norton” by T. S. Eliot. Fujimura is a leading contemporary painter whose work fuses abstract expressionism with traditional Japanese painting styles. He is also the author of several books, including Art + Faith: A Theology of Making, out now from Yale University Press. https://open.spotify.com/episode/22qWbZwSKOZFHnuq7jxzb2 T. S. Eliot was an influential modernist poet, playwright, and literary critic born in St. Louis in 1888. His late masterpiece, Four Quartets, is a collection of four linked poems partially inspired, in sound an
In this episode, Theo Padnos reads “The Drunken Boat” by Arthur Rimbaud. Padnos is an American writer and journalist. In 2012, he was kidnapped and held captive for two years by an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria. His new book about the experience, Blindfold: A Memoir of Capture, Torture, and Enlightenment, was described in the Atlantic as “the best of the genre, profound, poetic, and sowerful.” https://open.spotify.com/episode/0E57BTo2FI63XOPVyjsqrZ Arthur Rimbaud was a French symbolist poet born in 1854. He composed “The Drunken Boat” when he was just 16 years old, and stopped writing poetry alt
In this episode, Hrishikesh Hirway reads “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Butler Yeats. Hirway is the creator and host of several acclaimed podcasts, including Home Cooking (with Samin Nosrat), The West Wing Weekly (with Joshua Malina), and Song Exploder (which is now also a Netflix original series). On top of all that, Hirway manages a career as a composer and recording artist. At the beginning of this interview, you’ll hear a short clip from his new single, “Between There and Here (feat. Yo-Yo Ma).” https://open.spotify.com/episode/7pu2x8Z3tA2Qzgl058WhGd “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” b
In this episode, Bon Appétit Editor-in-Chief Dawn Davis reads “Sonnet 171” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Davis joined Bon Appétit in November 2020 following a long career in book publishing. Through her visionary work at Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins, Davis oversaw the publication of numerous influential best sellers — from “The Pursuit of Happyness” by Chris Gardner to “The Known World” by Edward P. Jones. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Ckf6fySDPqisv9vNzygx4 Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American poet born in 1892. She became wildly popular during her lifetime — known for her passionat
In this episode, Grian Chatten reads “The Windhover” by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Chatten is the frontman of the Irish post-punk band Fontaines D.C., recently described by NME as “the new heroes of the rock resurrection.” The members of the group met while attending music college in Dublin and initially bonded over a shared love for Irish literature. Their second album, A Hero’s Death, has been nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. https://open.spotify.com/episode/31tSGmqny6OPHQ1YWagJmV Gerard Manley Hopkins was an English poet and Jesuit priest who spent the last years of his li
In this episode, Alec Soth reads “Of Modern Poetry” by Wallace Stevens. Soth is a photographer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has published over twenty-five books and has been called a “living legend” and “one of the most important photographers working today” by the Washington Post. https://open.spotify.com/episode/6U9XgyQuamdVdEDw1P9ZNm Soth’s recent photo book, I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating, is a stunning collection of portraits and interiors from around the world. Soth has described the collection as an attempt to “strip the [photographic] medium down to it’s primary elem
In this episode, Sheryl Paul reads from “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman. Paul is a counselor working in the tradition of Jungian depth psychology. She runs the popular blog and website, Conscious Transitions, and is the author, most recently, of The Wisdom of Anxiety: How Worry & Intrusive Thoughts Are Gifts to Help You Heal. Paul writes of anxiety not as a disorder to be eradicated, but as a wise messenger from the unconscious and an invitation to self-trust. https://open.spotify.com/episode/7cA213gsdEmnLNIK724wMy A key companion on Paul’s own journey to self-trust has been the legendary Ame
In this episode, Jennifer Crandall reads “Keeping Things Whole” by Mark Strand. Crandall is a documentary filmmaker and journalist. She is the creator, most recently, of Whitman, Alabama – a must-watch web series in which Alabama residents recite passages from Walt Whitman’s poem, “Song of Myself.” Crandall has described the project as “an experiment in using documentary and poetry to reveal the threads that tie us together — as people, as states, and as a nation.” https://open.spotify.com/episode/5jO5ZJao4NZy4Peus2OrJh “Keeping Things Whole” by Mark Strand appears in the volume, Collected Poe
In this episode, Robert Alter reads from his translation of the Song of Songs. Alter is a literary critic and translator based at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2018, he published a landmark, one-man translation of the entire Hebrew Bible – the culmination of over two decades of scholarship. https://open.spotify.com/episode/30aHgozRmfI887FcizwpPe The Song of Songs – sometimes referred to as the Song of Solomon – is a book of the Hebrew Bible, typically dated to the 4th century BCE. The Song of Songs, 4:8 – 5:1, translated by Robert Alter, appears in The Hebrew Bible: A Translation
In this episode, Enrique Martínez Celaya reads “Elegy for Ramón Sijé” by Miguel Hernández. Martínez Celaya is a world-renowned painter, sculptor, and the author of On Art & Mindfulness, among other books. He lives and works in Los Angeles. https://open.spotify.com/episode/65qUKBK1KAGjRdvaL1f57r Miguel Hernández (1910-1942) was an early 20th-century Spanish poet. The elegy featured in this episode was written after the death of his close friend and mentor, Ramón Sijé, in 1935. The score heard throughout this episode was created using samples from a musical setting of the poem by Spanish singer-
In this episode, composer Libby Larsen reads “Wolf Song in Los Angeles” by Bill Holm. Larsen is one of the most prolific and most performed living American composers. Bill Holm (1943 – 2009) was a poet and essayist who lived in western Minnesota. Throughout the episode, you’ll hear excerpts from Larsen’s musical setting of “Wolf Song in Los Angeles” – performed by Clara Osowski, with piano accompaniment by Casey Rafn. https://open.spotify.com/episode/32LlR9vb2Whu50UlOZg0uw “Wolf Song in Los Angeles” by Bill Holm appears in the collection The Dead Get by With Everything, published by Milkweed E
In this episode, On Being Project founder and CEO Krista Tippett reads “God speaks to each of us as he makes us” by Rainer Maria Rilke. She shares how the poem gave her courage and resolve during the creation of her public radio show, Speaking of Faith, in 2003. In the years since, Speaking of Faith has grown and evolved into The On Being Project, a media and public life initiative exploring the intersection of spiritual inquiry, science, social healing, community, poetry, and the arts. Tippett’s latest book is Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living. https://open.spotify.
In this episode, U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar reads “Conversations about home (at the deportation centre)” by Warsan Shire and reflects on the many meanings of home. On November 6, 2018, Omar became the first Somali American, and one of the first two Muslim women elected to U.S. Congress. She represents Minnesota’s 5th congressional district. This interview was recorded in 2017, when Omar was still serving in the Minnesota State House of Representatives. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3hmD8drOOgB9Y5By1QcZVi “Conversations about home (at the deportation centre),” by Warsan Shire, appears in
