The awards are from the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress. The fellowships are to be used to support the writing of poetry.
All events are free of charge and open to the public.
Both the local programs and some of the Library events on April 3 and 4 will incorporate Mr. Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project, which calls for Americans, both ordinary and luminary, to read poems by their favorite poets for a video and audio tape archive. Naomi Shihab Nye was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a Palestinian father and an American mother. She received her B.A. degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, where she continues to reside. A new collection of her poems, Come with Me, will be published this year. Joshua Weiner, who received his Ph.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley, was director of the Writing Program at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and now teaches at Northwestern University.