Audio Interviews

At Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith’s March 17th visit to the New Haven Branch of the Nelson County Public Library, library staff and local community members shared their enthusiasm about the poet laureate’s event with Rob Casper, head of the Library of Congress Poetry and Literature Center. You can listen to a couple of these interviews below.

To hear more from Tracy K. Smith’s visit to Kentucky, listen to “Making ‘American Conversations’: Part 3,” the third and final episode in a special three-part series of the Library of Congress’ “From the Catbird Seat” podcast that chronicles the origins of the poet laureate’s project. Tune in via our podcast page or your preferred podcast app.

On the podcast, you’ll hear reflections from Rob Casper, head of the Poetry and Literature Center, who traveled with Tracy K. Smith to Kentucky; interviews with Phillip Justice, program director at the Men’s Addiction Recovery Campus (MARC) in Bowling Green, and poet Maurice Manning at the New Haven Branch Library in New Haven; an original poem read by Ashton Ricketts at MARC; and excerpts from Tracy K. Smith’s event at the New Haven Branch Library. The episode closes with reflections from Anya Creightney, Rob Casper, and Tracy K. Smith herself.