Poetry & the Creative Mind 2023

Kimiko Hahn

Kimiko Hahn was born on July 5, 1955, in Mount Kisco, New York, the child of artists—a Japanese American mother from Hawai‘i and a German American father from Wisconsin. Hahn received an undergraduate degree in English and East Asian studies from the University of Iowa. She earned a master’s degree in Japanese literature from Columbia University.

Hahn is the author of ten collections of poetry, including Foreign Bodies (W. W. Norton, 2020) and The Unbearable Heart (Kaya Production, 1995), which received an American Book Award. Hahn has been honored with fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She has also been the recipient of the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize, and an Association of Asian American Studies Literature Award.

As a service to the poetry field, Hahn has organized festivals and panels on the chapbook. She is a distinguished professor in the MFA program of creative writing and literary translation at Queens College, the City University of New York, and lives in New York. In January 2023, Hahn was elected to become a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

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Emily Igwike

Emily Igwike, born in Milwaukee, has lived in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, all of her life. She is a poet and was named one of five National Student Poets, the nation’s highest honor for youth poets in 2022. Igwike is the daughter of two loving Igbo-Nigerian immigrants. Although her life has been quite quiet, she has enjoyed the hustle and bustle of a big family, with 3 siblings, and distant relatives rotating in and out of her house at any given moment. Emily Shedeveloped her passion for writing at an early age by reading novels. from an early age and grew fond of telling stories from countless late nights with her mother. Through poetry, Igwike not only curated her voice but also let others hear her. Beginning with short stories, and choppy poems, Igwike formulated her ever-developing craft into one that spoke to her. One she could feel confident in. Igwike hopes to be a role model for young, Black girls like her, as well as a testament to the power of the spoken word.

Daniel Dae Kim

Daniel Dae Kim is an actor, director, producer, and activist. He appeared in ABC’s Lost, CBS’s Hawaii Five-O, Netflix’s Stowaway, Disney+’s Raya and the Last Dragon, and the Tony Award-winning production of The King and I. Kim also stars in Avatar: The Last Airbender and can be seen in B. J. Novak’s FX series, The Premise, and on Apple TV+’s Roar. His production company 3AD produces ABC’s The Good Doctor, as well as the multi-award-winning documentary Bad Axe. As an activist, Kim’s advocacy for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is longstanding. His 2021 testimony in front of Congress helped lead to the passage of the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, and he currently serves on the White House’s Commission for Asian American, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Gold House and co-chairs the Advisory Council of the The Asian American Foundation, which partnered this year with 3AD, and Gold House for the first official AAPI themed House at the Sundance Film Festival.

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai is an education activist and writer who began her activism at eleven years old when she anonymously blogged about life under the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, particularly the ban on girls’ education. Over the next few years, she advocated publicly, giving speeches and interviews, and attracting media attention and awards. At fifteen, she survived an assassination attempt for speaking out against the Taliban. After months of surgery and rehabilitation in the United Kingdom, she founded the Malala Fund to continue her campaign to see all girls in school. A year later, Malala received the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work for education and equality. Malala graduated from Oxford University with a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics in 2020. She is the best-selling author of several books including I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (Little, Brown and Company, 2013); I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2016); and Malala Speaks Out (Groundwood Books, 2023). Currently, Yousafzai has partnered with Apple TV+ and is the president of extracurricular productions.

Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming is a Tony and Olivier award-winning theater actor and has been nominated for five Emmys, multiple Golden Globes, and a Grammy. Awarded a New York Emmy, a Scottish BAFTA and a British Comedy Award, he is an Independent Spirit award-winning producer and National Board of Review-winning director. Cumming is also the author of six books, including a New York Times #1 bestselling memoir Not My Father’s Son (Canongate Books Ltd., 2001) and Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life (Dey Street Books, 2021). On stage, his credits include Hamlet on the West End, Cabaret on Broadway, and a one-man production of Macbeth. His movie credits include Spy Kids, X2: X-Men United, Goldeneye, and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. His television credits include The Good Wife, Sex and the City, Schmigadoon!, and Broad City. Cumming’s most recent projects include a dance theater piece about the Scottish bard Robert Burns, lip-synching the protagonist in a documentary, directing a podcast series about a sperm bank heist, and recording a duet with a Gaelic rapper.

Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird is an internationally acclaimed, Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, whistler, and songwriter. Since beginning his recording career in 1997, Bird has released seventeen albums and performed extensively across the globe, headlining concerts at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and festivals worldwide. Bird has been a featured TED Talks presenter, a New Yorker Festival guest, and an op-ed contributor for the New York Times. He performed as the Whistling Caruso in Disney’s The Muppets and scored the FX Series Baskets. Shortly after receiving his 2020 Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album for My Finest Work Yet, Bird made his professional acting debut in the cast of Fargo’s fourth season. In June 2022, Bird released his latest album, Inside Problems, on Loma Vista Recordings.

Richard Blanco

Richard Blanco is the Education Ambassador of the Academy of American Poets. In his role, he helps champion the organization’s free resources for teachers, student projects, and other education initiatives.

Born on February 15, 1968, in Madrid, Blanco grew up in Miami, where he received a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering as well as an MFA in creative writing from Florida International University.

Blanco is the author of the poetry collections Homeland of My Body: New and Selected Poems (Beacon Press, 2023); How to Love a Country (Beacon Press, 2019); Directions to the Beach of the Dead (University of Arizona Press, 2005), winner of the 2006 PEN/American Center Beyond Margins Award; and City of a Hundred Fires (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998), winner of the 1997 Agnes Lynch Starrett National Poetry Prize, among others. He is also the author of a memoir, The Prince of los Cocuyos (Ecco Press, 2014), a Lambda Literary Award–winning account of his childhood and adolescence coming to terms with his sexual, national, and cultural identities.

In March 2023, Blanco was honored with the 2021 National Humanities Medal for “powerful storytelling [that] challenges the boundaries of culture, gender, and class while celebrating the promise of our Nation’s highest ideals.” He is currently a distinguished visiting professor at Florida International University.

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Ethan Hawke

Ethan Hawke is an award-winning actor, producer, screenwriter, director, musician, and New York Times best-selling novelist. Throughout his career, he has been nominated for numerous awards, including Best Adaptive Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor by the Academy Awards. As a producer, Hawke won a Peabody Award for the drama miniseries The Good Lord Bird. In 2021, his latest novel, A Bright Ray of Darkness was published by Knopf, and his second graphic novel Meadowlark: A Coming-of-Age Crime Story was published by Grand Central Publishing. Hawke’s first graphic novel with illustrator Greg Ruth, Indeh, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in 2016. As a filmmaker, he directed the six-part, Paul Newman-Joanne Woodward documentary,The Last Movie Stars, now streaming on HBO Max. In 2023, Hawke completed the production of his latest narrative directorial effort, the Flannery O’Connor biopic Wildcat. He will next star alongside Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali in the Netflix feature, Leave the World Behind, and opposite Pedro Pascal in Pedro Almodóvar’s short film Strange Way of Life.

Shantell Martin

Shantell Martin is a public speaker, intuitive philosopher, cultural facilitator, curator, choreographer, songwriter, performer, and more. From fashion and celebrity collaborations to adjunct professor positions at MIT Media Lab, New York University’s Tisch Interactive Telecommunications Program, and Columbia University’s Brown Institute, in addition to choreographing a ballet at the Boston Ballet, Martin’s LINE constantly evolves. Her artwork was published in Shantell Martin: Lines (HENI Publishing, 2020). By creating new connections between fine art, education, design, philosophy, and technology, Martin explores themes such as intersectionality, identity, and play.

Molly Shannon

Molly Shannon, born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, is an actress and comedian. She earned a BFA in drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. For six seasons, Shannon was a member of the repertory company on Saturday Night Live. Shannon is a three-time Emmy nominee and was awarded the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the highly acclaimed drama Other People. She lives in California with her husband and two children.

Eric Kim

Eric Kim is a New York Times staff writer born and raised in Atlanta and the author of Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home (Clarkson Potter, 2022). He was a digital manager at Food Network and a senior editor at Food52, where he amassed a devoted readership for his “Table for One” column. He now hosts regular videos on NYT Cooking’s YouTube channel and writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine. A former contributing editor at Saveur, Eric taught writing and literature at Columbia University, and his work has been featured in The Washington Post, Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine. He lives with his rescue pup, Quentin Compson, in New York City.

John Lithgow

John Lithgow is a prolific film, television, and stage actor with two Tonys, six Emmys, two Golden Globes, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Academy Award nominations. Lithgow has appeared in a long list of critically acclaimed films such as All That Jazz, Terms of Endearment, and Bombshell. Upcoming credits include Conclave, Spellbound, and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Lithgow has starred in numerous hit TV shows, including 3rd Rock from the Sun, Dexter, and The Old Man on FX. He has appeared on Broadway twenty-five times, including The Changing Room, Requiem for a Heavyweight, and the musicals Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The Sweet Smell of Success. Lithgow is the author of Drama: An Actor’s Education (Harper, 2011), and several best-selling picture books for children, including Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013). Lithgow has also written and illustrated three New York Times-bestselling books of political satire, titled Dumpty Trilogy (Chronicle Prism, 2019). In 2022, Lithgow completed his term as co-chair of the Commission on the Arts of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson is an internationally award-winning actor who is best known for his work in films, including Schindler’s List, Michael Collins, Kinsey, The Grey, the blockbuster Taken trilogy, Star Wars: Episode 1-The Phantom Menace, Batman Begins, Love Actually, and Gangs of New York. Over the course of his career, Neeson’s films have grossed more than seven billion dollars worldwide. Most recently, he appeared in Memory and the highly anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney +) series, returning as the beloved Qui-Gon Jinn. Up next in 2022, he starred in Marlowe, directed by Neil Jordan and based off of the novel by crime fiction master Raymond Chandler. Marlowe is Neeson’s hundredth film to date. In 2023, he will star in the films Retribution and In the Land of Saints and Sinners. Neeson is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and the proud father of two sons.

Ada Limón

In 2022, Ada Limón was appointed the United States poet laureate. Born on March 28, 1976, she is originally from Sonoma, California. As a child, she was greatly influenced by the visual arts and artists, including her mother, Stacia Brady. In 2001, Limón received an MFA from the creative writing program at New York University.

Limón’s first collection of poetry, Lucky Wreck (Autumn House Press, 2006), was the winner of the 2005 Autumn House Poetry Prize. She is also the author of The Hurting Kind (Milkweed Editions, 2022); The Carrying (Milkweed Editions, 2018); Bright Dead Things (Milkweed Editions, 2015), which was a finalist for the National Book Award; Sharks in the Rivers (Milkweed Editions, 2010); and This Big Fake World (Pearl Editions, 2006), winner of the 2005 Pearl Poetry Prize. She splits her time between Lexington, Kentucky, and Sonoma, California.

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Special Thanks

Readers

Andrew Bird
Richard Blanco
Alan Cumming
Kimiko Hahn
Ethan Hawke
Emily Igwike
Daniel Dae Kim
Eric Kim
Ada Limón
John Lithgow
Shantell Martin
Liam Neeson
Molly Shannon
Malala Yousafzai

Executive Producers

Larry Berger and Anouk Markovits
Patricia Grodd & Michael Stone
Alexandra Jackson
Susan & John Jackson
Michael Jacobs & Sheridan Hay
The Liana Foundation
Tess O’Dwyer
Eunice & Vincent Panetta
Andrew Schiff & Alexandra Wolfe Schiff
Elizabeth Sobol

Producers

Ian Kennedy
Rachelle & Anthony Malkin
Eric & Elizabeth Warren

Associate Producers

Elisabeth Carter
Linda Nemec Foster
Elizabeth Wade & Colin Rafferty

with additional support from

Susan Vartanian Barba, Agnes Bourne, Michael A. Boyd, Carol Coonrod, Patricia Creegan, Suzanne Cryer, Margaret H. Douglas-Hamilton, Susan I. Einowski, Diane Faissler, Jude M. Ford, Dennis Gallagher, Robert Hall, Penn and Diane Holsenbeck, Helen Houghton, Marilyn Kallet, Camille Lannan & Yury Gitman, Jessica & Paul Maich, Susan E. Master, Nancy McKay, David Miller, Bruno Navasky & Melissa Ozawa, Gwenn A. Nusbaum, Myles O'Malley, Mr. & Mrs. Michael Salcman, Katie Sammons, Tim Schaffner, Cynthia J. Schumacher, Erica Selyukova, Peter Sorock, Rose Styron, Caroline Thurston, Marsha Tosk & Seymour Ubell, Patricia Towers, Chaim Wachsberger, Margaret E. Wagner, Arete Warren, and Holly York.

Poetry & the Creative Mind 2023

Opening Remarks

Kimiko Hahn

Readers

Emily Igwike

Daniel Dae Kim

Malala Yousafzai

Alan Cumming

Andrew Bird

A brief look at the 27 years of National Poetry Month and the Academy of American Poets featuring Richard Blanco.

Richard Blanco

Ethan Hawke

Shantell Martin

Molly Shannon

Eric Kim

Remarks

John Lithgow

Liam Neeson

Ada Limón

Kimiko Hahn

Emily Igwike

Daniel Dae Kim

Malala Yousafzai

Alan Cumming

Andrew Bird

Richard Blanco

Ethan Hawke

Shantell Martin

Molly Shannon

Eric Kim

John Lithgow

Liam Neeson

Ada Limón

Poetry & the Creative Mind 2023

Page submenu block

Opening Remarks

Readers

A brief look at the 27 years of National Poetry Month and the Academy of American Poets featuring Richard Blanco.

Remarks

Kimiko Hahn

Emily Igwike

Daniel Dae Kim

​​Malala Yousafzai

Alan Cumming

Andrew Bird

Richard Blanco

Ethan Hawke

Shantell Martin

Molly Shannon

Eric Kim

John Lithgow

Liam Neeson

Ada Limón

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Malala Yousafzai