KRCB-FM: WordTemple

Elizabeth Bradfield and Camille Dungy - May 15, 2013

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:13:50 -0700

WordTemple host Katherine Hastings presents an evening of poetry recorded while in Boston. Elizabeth Bradfield and Camille Dungy give separate readings and then talk together, responding to each other's work.

Elizabeth Bradfield is the author of Interpretive Work, which won the Audre Lorde Award and Approaching Ice, a book of poems about Arctic and Antarctic exploration that was a finalist for the James Laughlin Award from the American Academy of Poets. She has been awarded fellowships and scholarships from Stanford University's Wallace Stegner Fellowship program, the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference and the Vermont Studio Center. A naturalist who lives on Cape Cod, Bradfield spends time on expedition ships around the world. For 2012-2014, she is the Jacob Ziskind Visiting Poet-in-Residence at Brandeis University.

Camille Dungy is the author of Smith Blue, winner of the Crab Orchard Open Book Prize; Suck on the Marrow; and What to Eat, What to Drink, What to Leave for Poison. She is the editor of Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry; co-editor of From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems That Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great; and assistant editor of Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade. A two-time recipient of the Northern California Book Award and a two-time NAACP Image Award nominee, Dungy has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, Caven Canem, the Dana Award, and Bread Loaf.

Pui Ying Wong and Tim Suermondt - April 17, 2013

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:05:06 -0700

In the first of several shows recorded in New York and Boston, WordTemple host Katherine Hastings introduces KRCB-FM listeners to Pui Ying Wong and Tim Suermondt.

Wong, whose poetry has appeared in a wide variety of noted journals, is from Hong Kong and the author of the honest and moving book of poems Yellow Plum Season. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Tim Suermondt.

Suermondt's poetry has also appeared in several renowned literary reviews. His latest published collection, Just Beautiful, is warm-hearted and funny.

Grace Marie Grafton, Lee Slonimsky, and The Big Read - March 20, 2013

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 14:53:12 -0700

Word Temple host Katherine Hastings welcomes Grace Marie Grafton, who reads from her collection Whimsy, Reticence & Laud: Unruly Sonnets.

Also joining Hastings is poet Lee Slonimsky, author of four collections of poetry, the most recent of which is Logician of the Wind. Slonimsky lives in New York but visits Sonoma County frequently where he gives readings and teaches poetry workshops.

Finally, in honor of th this month's Big Read Sonoma County, host Katherine Hastings will air a number of poems written by Emily Dickinson.

Two Poets and more: Arisa White and Ed Coletti - February 20, 2013

khastings@wordtemple.com — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:28:07 -0800

On this WordTemple show, host Katherine Hastings presents widely published poet Arisa White, author of Hurrah's Nest, her debut collection recently nominated for a 44th NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry, and A Penny Saved, Released in November 2012. Arisa, a native New Yorker, living in Oakland, California, is sure to delight our listeners.

Also, Sonoma County poet and painter Ed Coletti reads from his book When Hearts Outlive Minds, an exploration of the many ways he found to celebrate life even during the heartbreak of his father's decline and death.

This and more, on WordTemple!

Two Poets: Alicia Suskin Ostriker and Katherine Hastings - January 16, 2013

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:47:16 -0800

Way back in July, the WordTemple Poetry series hosted Alicia Suskin Ostriker, reading from her new collection The Book of Life - Selected Jewish Poems, 1973 – 2011. KRCB aired this powerful reading. One of America’s premier visionary poets and critics, Ostriker has authored several collections of poetry and won numerous literary awards.

Then, Marin County poet Gerald Fleming turns the table on WordTemple host and poet Katherine Hastings and interviews her about her new collection of poems Cloud Fire, a profound and fertile collection of poems.

Two Stories - December 19, 2012

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:36:00 -0800

For our December WordTemple program, host Katherine Hastings takes a brief departure from poetry to present two stories. First, the 1941 radio play based on James Hilton's 1933 novel of the same title, Lost Horizon, starring Ronald Colman and Donald Crisp. (Colman also starred in the 1937 film directed by Frank Capra.) Following Lost Horizon, Dylan Thomas reads his classic A Child's Christmas In Wales. Finally, a little poetry: Arisa White reads with the Jessica Jones Quartet.

Everything Indicates - Bay Bridge Poems and Portraits - November 21, 2012

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 21:57:03 -0800

In the spring of 2011 over 20 poets were given a tour of the construction site of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, the portion that was being replaced after a section of the old span collapsed during the Loma Prieta earthquake. One result of that tour was the publication of an anthology of poems and photographs, Everything Indicates - Bay Bridge Poems and Portraits. In celebration of this book and of the Bay Bridge's 75th anniversary, several poets read their work, including Tamsin Smith, Katherine Hastings, Kevin Simmonds, Jack Pitts, Ben Davis and others.

Also, WordTemple host Katherine Hastings talks this month with Bruce Snider about his prize-winning collection Paradise, Indiana. Snider is also the author of The Year We Studied Women. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow and the recipient of a James A. Michner fellowship, he teaches at Stanford University.

Diana O'Hehir; Terry Ehret - October 17, 2012

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:07:44 -0700

In an interview with WordTemple host Katherine Hastings, Pulitzer Prize nominated poet Diana O'Hehir reads from her latest collection Walk Me To Schenectady. This is the multiple-award winning poet's fifth collection; she has also published 5 novels.

Also, Terry Ehret reads from her latest collection of poems, Night Sky Journey (Kelly's Cover Press, 2011.) Previous books by Ehret are Lost Body, Translations from the Human Language; and Lucky Break.

F. D. Reeve & Kathleen Winter - August 15, 2012

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:28:16 -0700

Poet and writer F. D. Reeve talks with host Katherine Hastings about his friendship with Robert Frost, his son, the late actor Christopher Reeve, and reads from his collection, The Toy Soldier. You will also hear some of Reeve's poetry from The Blue Cat Walks the Earth read to jazz accompaniment.

Also - Sonoma County poet Kathleen Winter, winner of the Elixir Press Poetry Award, reads from her first full-length collection Nostalgia for the Criminal Past.

Nathalie Handal; Poems From Alcatraz - July 18th, 2012

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:35:49 -0700

WordTemple host Katherine Hastings visits with Nathalie Handal, the author of Poet in Andalucía. This new collection is “a unique recreation, in reverse, of Federico García Lorca’s Poet in New York, considered one of the most significant books ever published about New York City.”

Also - For four years beginning in 1998, Katherine Hastings served as Alcatraz island’s first Docent. Her mission was to research historical documents stored at the old prison and write interpretive programs based on what she found. This month, Hastings presents a number of poems written by former Alcatraz inmates that she included in a program called Writers on the Rock - Inmate Poetry. You'll hear a poem by Rufus Franklin, who murdered an Alcatraz guard during an escape attempt by hitting him in the head with a hammer, a Mother’s Day poem written by the infamous mobster Al Capone, and others.

Marjorie Stein and Lee Slonimsky - June 20th, 2012

khastings@wordtemple.com — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:24:35 -0700

Sonoma County poet Marjorie Stein reads from her new book An Atlas of Lost Causes, published by Kelsey Street Press. Also, New York poet Lee Slonimsky reads from his two most recent collections, Money and Light and Logician of the Wind.

giovanni singleton and Lorena Papayone Wolfman - May 16th, 2012

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:33:21 -0700

WordTemple host Katherine Hastings talks first this month with giovanni singleton about her new book, Ascension. A collection of serial poems written during jazz musician and spiritual leader Alice Coltrane's 49-day transition throught the bardo - and other poems as well - Ascension takes us through a daily practice of meditations on the nature of "self," and longing for less suffering in the world.

Then, Lorena Papayone Wolfman reads from her collection, My Mother's Necklace / El Collar de mi Madre. This collection is bilingual and emerges from a dreamlike ocean of imagery, feeling and sounds. The poems also have their roots in Wolfman's experiences at the IV International Poetry Festival in Granada, Nicaragua, where poetry was celebrated as the conscience of the Earth.

This and more!

Poetry Party - April 18, 2012

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:53:10 -0700

In celebration of National Poetry Month, WordTemple host Katherine Hastings will air a wide variety of poetry and music including works by John Berryman, Gary Snyder, Muriel Rukeyser, William Stafford, and many others. Also, a centerpiece from The Atlantis Fragments by Donald Sidney-Fryer. This book, over 500 pages in length, contains all three volumes of Sidney-Fryer's Songs and Sonnets Atlantean. The work unfolds as a type of allegory about nature, an "extended ecological metaphor of our planet Earth" and is presented as translations not just from French, but from Atlantean. Imagine the first body of poems from Atlantis!

Matthew Zapruder and Gerald Fleming - March 21, 2012

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:36:01 -0700

Matthew Zapruder, poet, editor, translator and winner of the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, is the author of three collections of poetry - Come On All You Ghosts, The Pajamist, and American Linden. On this month's Word Temple program, he reads from a growing collection of new poems.

Gerald Fleming is the author of Swimmer Climbing Onto Shore and, most recently, Night of Pure Breathing, a collection of prose poems. He discusses his work with host Katherine Hastings, and reads from Night of Pure Breathing.

David Meltzer, Julie Rogers & Fishouse Poems - February 15, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:21:59 -0800

A dual milestone in City Lights history, When I Was a Poet is volume 60 of the Pocket Poets Series as well as their first book of poems by renowned Beat author David Meltzer. On this month’s program, Meltzer reads from that powerful book. Joining him is Julie Rogers, author of House of the Unexpected, forthcoming from Wild Ocean Press.

Also, contributing poets read from From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Synopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great (edited by Camille Dungy, Matt O’Donnell and Jeffrey Thomson).

Alissa Valles and Bill Vartnaw - January 18, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:16:59 -0800

"A gifted American poet with an unusually international sensibility." This is how Edward Hirsch describes Alissa Valles, a poet who was born in Amsterdam, grew up in the U.S. and the Netherlands and studied in London, Poland, Russia and the U.S. Tonight Valles reads from her collection, Orphan Fire, poems that explore the way a soul navigates the temporary dwelling in the body. Organized as a triptych, Orphan Fire is structured around the journey from entry to death. "Valles' poems refuse to be extinguished, they glow, they illuminate the fringes of our fear and celebrate our courage and frailty as we grope in the dusk searching for ways to be more human." - Jimmy Santiago Baca.

Also, Katherine Hastings speaks with Sonoma County's seventh Poet Laureate, Bill Vartnaw. Born and raised in Petaluma, Vartnaw is the founder of Taurean Horn Press and has published 14 books since 1974, including his own In Concern for Angels (1984). Vartnaw earned his MA in Poetics from New College of California. His work has appeared in various literary magazines.

Finally, a number of Sonoma County residents read some of their favorite humorous verse. Perhaps a little Ogden Nash, a little Wendy Cope.

T.S. Eliot and Dylan Thomas - December 21, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:01:22 -0800

WordTemple host Katherine Hastings plays T.S. Eliot reading "The Waste Land" followed by Dylan Thomas reading "A Child's Christmas in Wales."

Langston Hughes - November 16, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:02:27 -0800

On December 10, 1958, Langston Hughes - one of America’s most important poets, writers and playwrights - gave a stunning talk at U.C. Berkeley.

On this WordTemple, Katherine Hastings introduces and plays the entire reading. Hughes is known primarily for his portrayals of black life in the 20s through the 60s - his work stands as a pillar of the Harlem Renaissance and was among the most important in shaping that movement. Hughes is also known for expressing the influence of jazz in his work.

All together, he authored over two dozen books of poetry and prose, 11 plays - including one co-authored with Zora Neale Hurston - and his autobiography, The Big Sea. He called his poems "down to earth," grown from his own life. Here, he reads his poems and gives extraordinarily interesting background to his work. Did you know that Hughes wanted to be a streetcar conductor as a child and that he didn't write his first poem until after he was nominated "class poet" in the 8th grade? This program offers lessons in history, poetry, politics, race and humor in this rare personal talk by one of America’s greatest.

What Redwoods Know - Poems From California State Parks - October 19 , 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:26:36 -0700

This month on WordTemple, host Katherine Hastings talks with Chicano poet and educator Francisco X. Alarcón, the author of Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes; From the Other Side of Night; Of Dark Love, and many other collections of poems and poetry for young adults and children. Also, Susan Kelly-DeWitt reads new poems along with others from her collection The Fortunate Islands. Finally, in response to 70 of California’s State parks closing, several poets read from the new anthology What Redwoods Know - Poems From California State Parks. Sonoma County poets included in the book are David Beckman, Janine Canan, Ed Coletti, Iris Jamahl Dunkle, Katherine Hastings, Jodi Hottel, Paula Koneazny, Gail Larrick, Hannah Maggiora and Phyllis Meshulam.

Toni Mirosevich, John Olivares Espinoza - September 21 , 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:57:40 -0700

Toni Mirosevich joins host Katherine Hastings to talk about and read from her latest collection of poetry, The Takeaway Bin, which draws inspiration from Oblique Strategies, a card game invented by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. "Over one hundred worthwhile dilemmas" are printed on a pack of cards and offer a set of possibilities to apply "when a dilemma occurs in a working situation." Mirosevich presents poems that reply to various daily dilemmas, specific or obscure.

Also, John Olivares Espinoza reads from his collection, The Date Fruit Elegies, his first full-length collection of poetry after his two chapbooks, Aluminum Times and Gardeners of Eden.

Paul Hoover; Melissa Stein - August 17, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:44:46 -0700

Paul Hoover presents from his new book Sonnet 56 published by Les Figues Press with an introduction by Ira Monk. The book mixes Love, Poetry and Shakespeare in a marvelous grab bag of form, wit and playfulness. Starting with Shakespeare’s sonnet 56 - Sweet love, renew thy force, be it not said / Thy edge should blunter be than appetite, - Hoover writes 56 poetic variations, turning Shakespeare’s sonnet into a series of new (and traditional) forms, including: "Villanelle," "Noun Plus Seven," "Limerick," "Blues," "Course Description," "Flarf," "Imagist," "Tanka," "Answering Machine," "Rilke," "Morse Code" and "Bad Writing." The result is tender portrayal of love and an excellent survey of the possibilities within contemporary poetry.

Melissa Stein is the author of Rough Honey, Winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Prize, selected and with an introduction by Mark Doty. Published by American Poetry Review with Copper Canyon Press, the poems in Rough Honey have been praised by Molly Peacock as "a miracle of a first collection." Major Jackson calls her language "seductively alert and textured enough to evoke rarely contemplated worlds." "Openness... of form, and of the receptive and longing body is Rough Honey's central subject..." (Doty)

Whale Nation - Heathcote Williams - July 20, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:32:13 -0700

"In the water, whales have become the dominant species/Without killing their own kind." WordTemple features English poet, playwright and actor Heathcote Williams reading his classic Whale Nation. Part poetry, part natural history and part ecologic statement with musical accompaniment, Whale Nation is a hymn to the beauty, intelligence and majesty of the largest mammal on earth.

Janine Canan - June 15, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:13:22 -0700

The award-winning author of 17 books of poetry, anthologies, translations, stories and essays, Janine Canan presents her latest publication, Under the Azure - Poems of Francis Jammes. Not only are the translations gorgeous throughout, but Canan includes a forward by Jammes'' grandson, and an introduction that illuminates the life of Jammes, "poet of the Pyrenees."

"You don't read Francis Jammes, you breathe him, you inhale him - In Jammes' work, there is nothing but poetry and perfume - once you have abandoned yourself to him, you will think he is the only poet there is." - Andre Gide

Host Katherine Hastings also discusses works of Sylvia Plath.

Susan Browne and Four Chapbooks from Ahadada Press - May 18, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 18 May 2011 12:20:48 -0700

WordTemple features Susan Browne, author of Buddha's Dogs, winner of the Four Way Books Intro Prize selected by Edward Hirsh, and Zephyr, Steel Toe Books. Also, poets Mary-Marcia Casoly, Jack Foley, Katherine Hastings and Melanie Moro-Huber present samples from their chapbooks that were published together as one book by Ahadada Press, Ahadada Reader 3.

Poetry Party! - April 20, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:25:47 -0700

In celebration of National Poetry Month, WordTemple host Katherine Hastings will play a wide selection of poetry and music on the April program, including the winner and runner-up of the Sonoma County High Schools 2011 Poetry Out Loud Championship, Phebe Hong (rt) from Santa Rosa High School and Joey Abrego from Montgomery High. Also featured in the program will be Elizabeth Bishop, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Jennifer Sweeney, Stephen Vincent Benet, Wallace Stevens, David Bromige, Robert Duncan, Lynn Lonidier, Sonoma County poet Raphael Block and much, much more.

James Joyce - Two From Dubliners - March 16, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:48:40 -0700

WordTemple goes a little bit Irish tonight, the night before St. Patrick's Day. Host Katherine Hastings airs recordings of two powerful short stories from James Joyce's Dubliners: "Eveline," read by Dearbla Molloy, and "A Little Cloud," read by Brendan Coyle. Joyce's poem, "O It Was Out by Donnycarney" is sung by the magnificent tenor Marc Heller . The show will also be sprinkled with some fine Irish-American music, thanks to Mick Moloney and Frank Patterson. Finally, Hastings will announce a poetry reading she will host at the Crossroads Irish-American Festival featuring Sonoma County poet laureate Gwynn O'Gara, Gillian Conoley and Kathleen Lynch. Sit back and enjoy great radio - stories, music and more - on WordTemple!

Bob Hicok, Fred Ostrander and John Hart - February 16, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:58:52 -0800

Bob Hicok, associate professor of English at Virginia Tech, is the author of six collections of poetry, including Animal Soul, which was a finalist for the National Books Critics Circle Award. Tonight he talks with Katherine Hastings about the sources of inspiration for the poems in his latest book, Words For Empty and Words For Full (Pittsburgh Press), including what is called "The Virginia Tech massacre;" John Hart, two-time winner of the Commonwealth Club Medal in California, discusses his late father, the poet, teacher and critical maverick Lawrence Hart; and Fred Ostrander, who developed his poetic skills in Lawrence Hart's circle, reads poems from his latest book, Petroglyphs, Blue Light Press.

Words Plus Music - January 19, 2011

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:21:36 -0800

Actor Patrick Stewart reads the four sonnets written by Antonio Vivaldi to correspond with his Four Seasons concertos; "Spring" and "Winter" will be read within those two concertos. Franz Wright reads from his latest collection, Wheeling Motel, with musical accompaniment. Santa Rosa poets Greg Randall and Toni Wilkes read from their latest chapbooks.

Judy Grahn and Howard Altmann - November 17, 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:25:04 -0800

Internationally recognized for her gourndbreaking work, Judy Grahn is a lifetime artist, teacher and activist whose writing has been foundational to several social movements. As a poet and social theorist, her work has been widely published, distributed, anthologized, and translated. On this Word Temple program, Grahn performs some of her classic poems accompanied by singer, songwriter, musician Anne Carol Mitchell. Also included is a recitation of one of Grahn's poems by Ani DiFranco at Carnegie Hall. Later in the show, Howard Altmann talks with host Katherine Hastings about his latest collection of poems, In This House.

Poetry from Behind Bars - October 20, 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:43:28 -0700

For four years beginning in 1998, Word Temple host Katherine Hastings served as Alcatraz island's first Docent. Her Mission was to research historical documents stored at the old prison and write interpretive programs based on what she found. Hastings presents a number of poems written by former Alcatraz inmates that she included in a program called Writers on teh Rock - Inmate Poetry, including a Mother's Day poem written by the infamous mobster Al Capone. Also on the program, Hastings interviews Judith Tannenbaum, co-author of By Heart - Poetry, Prison and Two Lives, a book written with prison inmate Spoon Jackson, whom Tannenbaum met at San Quentin in the 1980s when she taught poetry at the prison. And, as a prelude to a party held October 23rd at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts celebrating five years of the live Word Temple Poetry Series, Hastings plays recordings of three of the many artists who performed that night: Former California state poet laureate Al Young, Judy Grahn and singer/songwriter Anne Carol Mitchell.

Catherine Strisik and Molly Fisk - September 15, 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:43:27 -0700

Word Temple host Katherine Hastings interviews Taos, New Mexico poet Catherine Strisik, author of Thousand-Cricket Song. Also, Molly Fisk reads from her latest collection, The More Difficult Beauty.

Diane di Prima and Carl Sandburg - August 18 , 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:43:26 -0700

Word Temple host Katherine Hastings presents current San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane di Prima who reads from her book Revolutionary Letters. She also plays recordings of poet, hobo, organizer for the Social Democratic party and Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Sandburg reading his work.

Word Temple Remembers Leslie Scalapino - July 21, 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:42:56 -0700

Word Temple host Katherine Hastings pays tribute to East Bay poet and writer Leslie Scalapino, who died on May 28th of this year. Scalapino was recognized internationally as one of the most innovative writers in America. Her award-winning work challenged every boundary known to poetry, prose and more. Also, Iowa poet Keith Ratzlaff, author of Then, a Thousand Crows; Dubious Angels: Poems After Paul Klee and more is interviewed.

Philip Schultz and Elizabeth McFarland - June 16, 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 17:40:46 -0700

Word Temple host Katherine Hastings talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Philip Schultz. Schultz has been celebrated for his singular vision of the American immigrant experience and Jewish identity, his fierce and tender portrayal of family life and his rich evocation of city streets. The program also introduces the life and work of Elizabeth McFarland, late wife of U.S. Poet Laureate Daniel Hoffman.

Langston Hughes - May 19, 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 21 May 2010 11:35:27 -0700

On December 10, 1958, Langston Hughes - one of America's most important poets, writers and playwrights - gave a stunning talk at U.C. Berkeley. This month, Katherine Hastings introduces and plays that entire reading.

Poetry Party! - April 21, 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:59:34 -0700

For April, Word Temple host Katherine Hastings presents an hour of poetry and music in celebration of National Poetry Month. You'll hear high school student Giovanny Espinosa, winner of the Sonoma County portion of the national recitation contest Poetry Out Loud, and Brooke McLaughlin, the runner-up. Joyce Jenkins of Poetry Flash pays a visit, as does Pierre Reverdy, through poems translated and read by Dan Bellm. Recordings of Theodore Roethke and other poets will be played, and Hastings will pay a short tribute to Lucille Clifton.

Lord Gawain Douglas, Cecilia Woloch, A Tribute to Jack Myers - March 17, 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:18:11 -0700

Visiting from Deal in Kent, Lord Gawain Douglas, great-nephew of Lord Alfred Douglas - a poet and Oscar Wilde's lover - talks with host Katherine Hastings and reads his work. Cecilia Woloch, author of five award-winning collections of poems reads from her latest volume, Carpathia. Jack Myers was the author of 18 books of and about poetry including his most recent, The Glowing River, New & Selected Poems.

Laureate! Laureate! Laureate! - February 17, 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:18:09 -0700

Katherine Hastings features three poets laureate: Carol Muske Dukes, poet laureate for the State of California; Albert Flynn DeSilver, Marin County's poet laureate; and Gwynn O'Gara, the new poet laureate for Sonoma County.

Jim Powell and Laura Walker - January 20, 2010

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:18:08 -0700

This month on Word Temple, Jim Powell reads from Substrate, his first collection of poetry in 20 years; and Laura Walker reads poetry from swarm lure and rimertown/an atlas. You will also hear a recording of the late poet Federico Garcia Lorca playing piano in accompaniment to La Argentina singing Los Cuatro Muleres.

Lenore Kandel, Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg - December 16, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:18:07 -0700

This month on Word Temple, Katherine Hastings airs a tribute to Lenore Kandel who died in October (2009). Also, Hastings plays a recording of Dylan Thomas reading his story A Child's Christmas in Wales. Finally, Allen Ginsberg reads C'mon Pigs of Western Civilization Eat More Grease.

Freidrich Holderlin and Rebecca Foust - November 18, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:44:11 -0800

This month, The Selected Poems of Freidrich Holderlin will be read and discussed by the translators, poets Maxine Chernoff and Paul Hoover. Also, Rebecca Foust talks with host Katherine Hastings and reads from her first two award-winning collections, Dark Card; and Mom's Canoe.

A Poetry Party - October 21, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:21:31 -0700

Host Katherine Hastings throws a Poetry Party this month, featuring poetry and music from Yusef Komunyakaa, John Updike, Marilyn Hacker, and Anais Nin reading from her diary about French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director Antonin Artaud. Plus Kate Royal singing "I Have Dreamt" from Wuthering Heights, and poet Arisa White with the Jessica Jones Quartet. Also included is a visit from Sonoma County poet Michael Rothenberg who will give an introduction to Rockpile, a collaboration between Rothenberg and David Meltzer that will send them through eight cities in the U.S. to perform poetry and prose composed on the road with local musicians and artists in each city.

Brian Tso Jones + Anne Sexton - September 16, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:09:05 -0700

An in-depth interview with poet Brian Tso Jones, author or the award-winning collection, Raking the Hollow Bones. Also, host Katherine Hastings introduces the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Anne Sexton.

Tribute to David Bromige - August 26, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:04:12 -0700

Tribute to David Bromige - August 26, 2009

Jack + Adelle Foley, Jake Berry - August 19, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:54:03 -0700

Poet, critic, playwrite and radio personality Jack Foley performs a number of his poems and his ten-minute play, The Boy, the Girl, and the Piece of Chocolate along with his wife, poet Adelle Foley who will also read work from her book, Along the Bloodline, and more recent haiku. Following the Foley's, Alabama poet, songwriter, singer and musician Jake Berry perfroms segments from his magnificent work of poetry and music, Brambu Drezei.

Robert Hinchens + Frank McCourt - Word Temple - July 15, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:49:24 -0700

Word Temple host Katherine Hastings introduces The Green Carnation, an 1894 novel by Robert Hichens that played a part in the famous trial and imprisonment of Oscar Wilde for homosexual activity, followed by a recording of Wilde's poem "the Ballad of Reading Gaol," written after he served two years in that prison. In the second half of the program, Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes, reads James Joyce's The Sisters - his first published work of fiction which would later become the first story in The Dubliners.

Dickinson and Emerson - June 17, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Thu, 9 Jul 2009 16:43:31 -0700

Katherine Hastings presents the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Ralph Waldo Emerson, reading from The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, and Open Me Carefully - Emily Dickinson's Institute Letters. She also plays recordings of Teresa Gallagher reading Dickinson's poems and play music inspired by Dickinson's poems. Archibald MacLeish reads poetry by Ralph Waldo Emerson, including "Threnody," followed by a performance of Lou Harrison's "Threnody for Carlos Chavez."

Nathaniel Tarn, Jane Hirshfield - May 20, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:46:37 -0700

Featured on Word Temple are Jane Hirshfield and Nathaniel Tarn. Born in Paris in 1928, Tarn was a leading anthropologist for many years, and the pioneering translator of Pablo Neruda. His own poetry was praised by Octavio Paz for it's "rich temperament, a remarkable linguistic inventiveness, and a vision both original and universal." Tarn talks with Katherine Hastings and reads from his latest collection, Ins and Outs of the Forest Rivers.

Jane Hirshfield, the popular author of six collections of poems including her latest book, After, reads new poems from her home in Northern California. Robert Bly says, "There is something subtle and new in Jane Hirshfield's poems...She has absorbed the vertical line through her discipline, and it gives her poems and intensity that doesn't kill ordinary life, or subdue the body as some vertical studies do."

Hastings also plays French music by popular French musicians and composers.

Word Temple - April 15, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:44:59 -0700

Word Temple - April 15, 2009

Word Temple - March 18, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:43:11 -0700

Word Temple - March 18, 2009

Word Temple - February 18, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:58:09 -0700

Word Temple - February 18, 2009

Word Temple - January 21, 2009

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:54:28 -0700

Word Temple - January 21, 2009

Word Temple - December 17, 2008

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:55:33 -0700

Word Temple - December 17, 2008

Word Temple - November 12, 2008

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:53:28 -0700

Word Temple - November 12, 2008

Word Temple - October 15, 2008

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:49:36 -0700

Word Temple - October 15, 2008

Word Temple - September 17, 2008

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:44:49 -0700

Word Temple - September 17, 2008

F.D. Reeve; "For New Orleans" - Aug. 20, 2008

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 12:49:33 -0700

Katherine Hastings interviews F. D. Reeve who reads from his latest book of poems, The Toy Soldier, and features several Northern California poets reading from the new anthology "For New Orleans" and other poems.

Heathcote Williams - July 16, 2008

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 12:48:04 -0700

English poet, playwright and actor Heathcote Williams reads his green classic Whale Nation.

Vilma Ginzerg, Dan Bellm, Armando Garcia-Davila... - June 18, 2008

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 12:45:43 -0700

Katherine Hastings features Healdsburg Literary Laureate Vilma Ginzerg, San Francisco poet Dan Bellm, Armando Garcia-Davila and plays Kathleen Ferrier singing the art song "Down By the Salley Gardens," a poem by W. B. Yeats.

Peter Cole - May 21, 2008

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 12:42:29 -0700

Katherine Hastings interviews Jerusalem poet and translator Peter Cole, author of The Dream of the Poem - Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain 950-1492.

National Poetry Month - Apr. 16, 2008

khastings@wordtemple.com — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 12:22:19 -0700

Katherine Hastings celebrates National Poetry Month by featuring Al Young, Jake Berry, Michael McClure with Ray Manzarek, Allen Ginsberg with Bob Dylan and more.