Literary figures/poets

Pratt's book of poetry, "Crime Against Nature," was chosen by the Academy of American Poets as the 1989 Lamont Poetry Selection. Many of her poems are about being a lesbian, and losing custody of her two sons when she came out. Pratt just won the Hammett/Hellman Award, given by the Fund for Free Expression.

Mira is a third-generation Japanese-American who, in 1984, visited Japan for the first time. His own grandfather left that country at the turn of the century, and during World War II Mura's parents were interned in a relocation camp. He's written a memoir about his heritage, called "Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei."

Amichai is one of his country's leading poets. Born in Europe, he fought in the Israeli army through many of the country's conflicts. He contemplates war in his new collection of poetry, "Even a Fist was Once an Open Palm with Fingers."

Venclova's outspoken comments cost him his Soviet citizenship. After leaving his home in Lithuania, he's spent the the past 14 years in the U.S, and now teaches at Yale University.

Terry asks three people about how the war is affecting their creative work: Arab poet Zabyah Khamis, American poet Galway Kinnell, and political cartoonist Dan Wasserman.

The Fresh Air poet-in-residence reads a new work, "The Ivory Novel," in which he dreams of writing a novel about saving African elephants from poachers.

Olds reads a poem about her father, centered around his bed -- the site of his romances and, ultimately, his passing.

Snyder was part of the beat poetry scene in 1950s San Francisco, and inspired a character in several Jack Kerouac novels. He studied Eastern philosophy and religion, and later settled in a more isolated part of the United States -- far from the urban world. He won the Pulitzer Prize, and continues to teach and write. His new collection of essays considers his relationship with the wilderness.

Fresh Air's poet-in-residence shares his reflections on the memories that gave him the most intense but evanescent pleasure.

Mark Halliday returns to Fresh Air to recite two of his poems, about families, nostalgia, music, and memory.