Award-winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye reads from her work for the Ransom Center’s 2016 Burnshaw Lecture. [Read more…] about Politics, perception, and precious details: Q&A with poet Naomi Shihab Nye
poems
Caroling Dusk, An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets
This is the last of a three-part series of posts highlighting the influence and work of Countée Cullen, a poet and editor during the Harlem Renaissance.
Cullen used the special issue of Palms as a springboard for a book-length anthology. Caroling Dusk, An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets, was published by Harper & Brothers in 1927 and featured decorations by artist Aaron Douglas. [Read more…] about Caroling Dusk, An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets
Countée Cullen and “The Negro Number” of Palms
This is the second of a three-part series of posts highlighting the influence and work of Countée Cullen, a poet and editor during the Harlem Renaissance.
In the mid-1920s anthologies of African American writing found a receptive audience in the United States and abroad. The poetry magazine Palms embraced the trend and invited Countée Cullen to serve as guest editor of its “Negro Poets’ Number.” [Read more…] about Countée Cullen and “The Negro Number” of Palms
“Countée Cullen. Twenty-two. Watch him.”
![Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) [Portrait of Countee Cullen, in Central Park], June 20, 1941.](https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcentermagazine/files/2016/02/3a42847r.jpg)
Countée Cullen was one of the first poets to establish a national reputation in the midst of the Harlem, or New Negro, Renaissance. Critics recognized Cullen’s first book of poetry, Color (1925), as a significant literary achievement. [Read more…] about “Countée Cullen. Twenty-two. Watch him.”
Love letters from the archive
The millions of materials in the Ransom Center are as diverse as they are interesting. But everything inside is united by one common focus, the humanities—the exploration of what it means to be human. The artists, writers, poets, musicians, filmmakers, and everyone else whose belongings and legacies live in the archives all captured different aspects of the human experience. They explored the essences of art, of beauty, of tragedy, and perhaps most importantly (especially if you trust John Lennon) of love. [Read more…] about Love letters from the archive
Texas, the state that stole the heart of literary giant Jorge Luis Borges
In 2014 the Harry Ransom Center acquired the archive of Nobel Prize–winning author Gabriel García Márquez. García Márquez would surely enjoy knowing that his archive resides alongside an important collection of papers by Jorge Louis Borges. [Read more…] about Texas, the state that stole the heart of literary giant Jorge Luis Borges