Internationally Renowned Poet Naomi Shihab Nye to Visit Bishop Dunne Thursday, April 6, 2016

Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself as a “wandering poet.” She has spent 40 years traveling the country and the world to lead writing workshops and inspiring students of all ages. Nye was born to a Palestinian father and an American mother and grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio. Drawing on her Palestinian-American heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her experiences traveling in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East, Nye uses her writing to attest to our shared humanity.

Naomi Shihab Nye is the author and/or editor of more than 30 volumes. Her books of poetry include 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, A Maze Me: Poems for Girls, Red Suitcase, Words under the Words, Fuel, and You & Yours (a best-selling poetry book of 2006). She is also the author of Mint Snowball (paragraphs); Never in a Hurry and I’ll Ask You Three Times, Are You Okay?, Tales of Driving and Being Driven (essays); Habibi and Going, Going (novels for young readers); Baby Radar and Sitti’s Secrets (picture books), and There Is No Long Distance Now (a collection of very short stories). Other works include several prize-winning poetry anthologies for young readers, including Time You Let Me In, This Same Sky, The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems & Paintings from the Middle East, What Have You Lost?, and Transfer. Her collection of poems for young adults entitled Honeybee won the 2008 Arab American Book Award in the Children’s/Young Adult category. Her most recent novel for children, The Turtle of Oman, was chosen both a Best Book of 2014 by The Horn Book and a 2015 Notable Children's Book by the American Library Association.

Naomi Shihab Nye has been a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Witter Bynner Fellow (Library of Congress.) She has received a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets, the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Paterson Poetry Prize, four Pushcart Prizes, the Robert Creeley Prize, and "The Betty Prize" from Poets House, for service to poetry, and numerous honors for her children’s literature, including two Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards. In 2011 Nye won the Golden Rose Award given by the New England Poetry Club, the oldest poetry reading series in the country. Her collection 19 Varieties of Gazelle was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her work has been presented on National Public Radio on A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer’s Almanac. She has been featured on two PBS poetry specials including “The Language of Life with Bill Moyers” and also appeared on NOW with Bill Moyers. She has been affiliated with The Michener Center for writers at the University of Texas at Austin for 20 years and also poetry editor at The Texas Observer for 20 years. In January 2010 Nye was elected to the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets. She was recently named laureate of the 2013 NSK Neustadt Award for Children’s Literature.

Naomi will present to the 6th through 9th graders on her children’s literature and will conduct a poetry workshop for selected high school students.

Previous Geo Tech speakers include:

2015 James Balog Photographer of the natural environment to reveal the impact of climate change

2014 Dr. Patrick Meier Crisis Mapper and Humanitarian

2013 Dr. Albert Lin National Geographic Emerging Explorer, High Tech Archaeologist

2012 Kobie Boykins Mars Rover Engineer

2012 Dr. Mireya Mayor Scientist, Explorer, Wildlife Correspondent

2011 Dr. Robert Bakker Paleontologist and Author: The Dinosaur Heresies

2010 Ben Osborne Planet Earth DVD Series Photographer

2010 Chad Pregracke President of Living Lands and Waters – U.S. Jefferson Award for Public Service Winner

2009 Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson Astrophysicist and Nova Host

2008 Dr. Dawn Wright Oceanographer and Deep Water Explorer, Professor of Geography and Oceanography, Oregon State University

2007 David Rumsey Cartographer and Philanthropist

2007 Dr. Spencer Wells Geneticist, Anthropologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence

2007 Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ Author: Dead Man Walking, Anti Death Penalty Activist

2006 Dr. Mae Jemison Astronaut and Author, Founder and Chair of the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence

2005 Dr. J. Michael Fay National Geographic Conservationist-in-Residence

2004 Jodi Cobb National Geographic Photographer

2003 Dr. John Kuglin Former Director of NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) Education Project

2002 Dr. Wade Davis National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence

2001 Dr. Sally Ride Astronaut and Author. Professor of Physics, University of California at San Diego

2000 Erik Larson Author: Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

1999 Dr. Jane Goodall Anthropologist and Scientist, Founder of The Jane Goodall Institute; Author: Reason for Hope

1998 Dayton Duncan Author and Film Producer

1998 Ann Bancroft Explorer: First woman to travel to both the North Pole and the South Pole; first woman to cross the Antarctic continent

1997 Dr. Robert Ballard Author, Explorer and Discoverer of RMS Titanic, Founder of the Institute for Exploration and the JASON Foundation

1997 Kenneth C. Davis Author: Don’t Know Much About Geography

To learn more about the GeoTech Lecture Series, contact Monica de la Cerda at mdelacerda@bdcs.org.

To learn more about the Annual GeoTech Professional Development Conference, contact Roger Palmer at rpalmer@bdcs.org.

For more information on Bishop Dunne School see the school's website: www.bdcs.org

Be a Falcon for a Day!