Book Matters: National Book Festival: Poetry and Prose

Today I spent 4 hours on the National Mall under a tent listening to poets and authors read from and talk about their work on a rainy day at the 2009 Library of Congress National Book Festival. The tent I sat in and tweeted from today was the Poetry and Prose tent that featured poets and literary authors.

I arrived around 1:00 PM just missing Poet Laureate Kay Ryan. While that was a bummer it didn't take away from the rich talks and readings given by Jane Hirshfield, Ana Menendez, Patricia Smith, Ralph Eubanks, Azar Nafisi, Marilynne Robinson, and Tim O'Brien.

Patricia Smith put on a stunning performance as she recited her poetry. I was deeply moved. Tim O'Brien was also very moving as he talked about becoming a father in his late fifties.

I case you missed it, my live tweets from the day are below.

1. O'brian notes that the thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it and you hope others dream it with you #nbfabout 4 hours ago from Twitterrific
2. This year is the 20th anniversary of O'Brian's "The Things They Carried" The crowd goes wild #nbfabout 4 hours ago from Twitterrific
3. O'Brian is a 62 year old father of a 6 year old and 4 year old #nbfabout 5 hours ago from Twitterrific
4. Tim O'Brian is dressed like a college frat boy, old baseball cap, blue blazer, striped tie, and old blue jeans #nbfabout 5 hours ago from Twitterrific
5. Robinson indicates that the burden of love is making the beloved understand the extent to which the lover loves #nbfabout 5 hours ago from Twitterrific
6. Robinson avoids cliche by writing about her own mountains and lakes #nbfabout 5 hours ago from Twitterrific
7. Mariynne Robinson reads from "Home" #nbfabout 5 hours ago from Twitterrific
8. Nafisi ends her talk with a startling question, "Who is going to bailout imagination and thought" #nbfabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
9. Nafisi says that we should buy the Book of Kings, not her new book#nbfabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
10. Nafisi proclaims that the only way to resist death is to embrase life, the only way to embrace life is to read and experience art #nbfabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
11. Nafisi notes that literature is not asprin, literature allows you to protest reality #nbfabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
12. Nafisi notes that the most absolute silence, that we have to resist, is death #nbfabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
13. Nafisi notes that her editor's shadow is over her like her mother's#nbfabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
14. Nafisi's phone rings and she says "It's amazing how writers always subvert themselves" She pulls out her phone and says "And it's my editor"about 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
15. Nafisi notes that silence makes us complicit to the crimes committed against usabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
16. Nafisi says that there is a human place that we all share that is located in language #nbfabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
17. Nafisi notes that every book is a celebration of all booksabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
18. Nafisi notes that real subversiveness requires self questioning #nbfabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
19. Nafisi notes that reading and writing is about discovering the intimate stanger and the stranger within ones self #nbfabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
20. Azar Nafisi notes that she loves books because of the connection between people they connect people #nbfabout 6 hours ago from Twitterrific
21. Ralph Eubanks admits that he and his wife were run off the road in Mississippi in 1990 and told never to return #nbfabout 7 hours ago from Twitterrific
22. Jonathan Yardley, in his yellow rain coat, looks like he just got back from sailing. #nbfabout 7 hours ago from Twitterrific
23. Patricia Smith is bringing the house down in the poetry and prose tent #nbfabout 7 hours ago from Twitterrific
24. Patricia Smith notes that language has the power to move us from one place in our head to a safer place #nbfabout 7 hours ago from Twitterrific
25. Menendez notes that travel shows how fundgable identity really is#nbfabout 7 hours ago from Twitterrific
26. Menendez notes that you can't be a control freak and a writer #nbfCharacters will find their own voice if you let themabout 7 hours ago from Twitterrific
27. Menendez is optimistic that we will always need news we can trust#nbfabout 7 hours ago from Twitterrific
28. Menendez reaffirms storytelling as "shelter in a blustry time" #nbfabout 8 hours ago from Twitterrific
29. Ana Menendez turns to poetry for inspiration and wisdom #nbfabout 8 hours ago from Twitterrific
30. Hirshfield writes "pebbles" which are very short poems that are meant to be chewed and digested later #nfbabout 8 hours ago from Twitterrific
31. The poetry and prose tent has a number of open sits. Come out of the rain and get your soul watered #nfsabout 8 hours ago from Twitterrific
32. "The Poet" is an ode to the many poets write in obscurityabout 8 hours ago from Twitterrific
33. At the Jane Hirshfield talk #nfbabout 8 hours ago from Twitterrific
34. Rain starts to trickle at the national book festivalabout 8 hours ago from Twitterrific