Listen to Audio of Kevin Young

“There appears to be no format in which Young does not shine.” The Washington Post

Listen to Audio of Kevin Young

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The New Yorker Poetry Podcast

Carolyn Forché joins Kevin to read “The Owl’s Night,” by Mahmoud Darwish, and her own poem “The Museum of Stones” (September 2026).
Mark Wunderlich joins Kevin to read “My Great-Grandmother’s bible, ” by Spencer Reece, and his own poem “The Bats” (August 2026).
Richard Blanco joins Kevin to read “Questions of Travel, ” by Elizabeth Bishop, and his own poem “My Father in English” (July 2026).
Richard Siken joins Kevin to read “I Catch Sight of the Now, ” by Jorie Graham, and his own poem “Piano Lesson ” (June 2026).
Julia Alvarez joins Kevin to read “The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill, ” by Judy Page Heitzman, and her own poem “Mami at Her Vanity ” (May 2026).
Monica Ferrell joins Kevin to read “Carrowmore, ” by Lucie Brock-Broido, and her own poem “The Fifties ” (April 2026).
Maya C. Popa joins Kevin to read “Artless, ” by Brenda Shaughnessy, and her own poem “The World Was All Before Them” (March 2026).
Adrian Matejka joins Kevin to read “Against the Encroaching Grays, ” by C. D. Wright, and his own poem “Almost Home” (February 2026).
April Bernard joins Kevin to read “A Worldly Country, ” by John Ashbery, and her own poem “Beagle or Something” (January 2026).
Patricia Lockwood joins Kevin to read “In the Waiting Room, ” by Elizabeth Bishop, and her own poem “Love Poem Like We Used to Write It ” (December 2025).
Traci Brimhall joins Kevin to read “Refrigerator, 1957, ” by Thomas Lux, and her own poem “Love Poem Without a Drop of Hyperbole in It” (November 2025).
Henri Cole joins Kevin to read “Vita Nova, ” by Louise Glück, and his own poem “Figs” (October 2025).
Bruce Smith joins Kevin to read “Open Letter to My Ancestors ” by Mary Ruefle, and his own poem “The Game” (September 2025).
Garrett Hongo joins Kevin to read “T ‘ang Notebook, ” by Charles Wright, and his own poem “On Emptiness” (August 2025)
Sasha Debevec-McKenney joins Kevin to read “Hammond B3 Organ Cistern, ” by Gabrielle Calvocoressi, and her own poem “Kaepernick” (July 2025).
Megan Fernandes joins Kevin to read “Half-Life in Exile, ” by Hala Alyan, and her own poem “On Your Departure to California ” (June 2025).
Erika Meitner joins Kevin to read “What Work Is, ” by Philip Levine, and her own poem “To Gather Together” (May 2025)
David St. John joins Kevin to read “Picking Grapes in an Abandoned Vineyard, ” by Larry Levis, and his own poem “The Shore” (April 2025).
Edward Hirsch joins Kevin to read “96 Vandam, ” by Gerald Stern, and his own poem “Man on a Fire Escape ” (March 2025).
Jericho Brown joins Kevin to read “When,” by Elizabeth Alexander, and his own poem, “Colosseum” (February 2025).
Deborah Garrison joins Kevin to discuss A Century of Poetry in the New Yorker: 1925-2025 (January 2025).
Dobby Gibson joins Kevin to discuss “I have slept in many places, for years on mattresses that entered,” by Diane Seuss, and his own poem, “This Is a Test of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Wireless Warning System” (December 2024).
Rae Armentrout joins Kevin to discuss “Mother,” by Dorothea Lasky, and her own poem, “Finally” (November 2024).
Jim Moore joins Kevin to read “I wonder if I will miss the moss,” by Jane Mead, and his own poem, “Mother” (October 2024).
Amber Tamblyn joins Kevin to read “The Dahlias,” by Didi Jackson, and her own poem, “This Living” (September 2024).
Valzhyna Mort joins Kevin to read her translation of “Testimonies,” by Amelina, and Clare Cavanaugh’s translation of “Map,” by Szymborska (July 2024).
Raymond Antrobus joins Kevin to read “A Protactile Version of ‘Tintern Abbey,’” by John Lee Clark, and his own poem “Signs, Music” (July 2024).
Amy Woolard joins Kevin to read “Via Negativa,” by Charles Wright, and her own poem “Late Shift” (May 2024).
José Antonio joins Kevin to read “World of the future, we thirsted,” by Naomi Shihab Nye, and his own poem “Tender” (April 2024).
Ada Limón joins Kevin to read “You Belong to the World,” by Carrie Fountain, and her own poem “Hell or High Water” (March 2024).
Donika Kelly joins Kevin to read “One Hundred White-Sided Dolphins on a Summer Day,” by Mary Oliver, and her own poem “Sixteen Center” (February 2024).
Richie Hofmann joins Kevin to read “Twilight,” by Henri Cole, and his own poem “French Novel” (January 2024).
Bianca Stone joins Kevin to read “Learning to Read,” by Franz Wright, and her own poem “What’s Poetry Like?” (November 2023).
Evie Shockley joins Kevin to read “Hattie McDaniel Arrives at the Coconut Grove,” by Rita Dove, and her own poem “the blessings” (October 2023).
Dorothea Lasky joins Kevin to read “Three Songs,” by Louise Bogan, and her own poem “The Green Lake” (September 2023).
Diane Mehta joins Kevin to read “The Lost Art of Letter Writing, ” by Eavan Boland, and her own poem “Landscape with Double Bow” (August 2023).
Adrienne Su joins Kevin to read “The Longing to Be Saved, ” by Maxine Kumin, and her own poem “The Days” (July 2023).
David Baker joins Kevin to read “In Passing, ” by Stanley Plumly, and his own poem “Six Notes” (June 2023).
Kate Baer joins Kevin to read “The Morning After, ” by Ellen Bass, and her own poem “Mixup” (May 2023).
Sandra Cisneros joins Kevin to read “Shelter, ” by José Antonio Rodríguez, and her own poem “Tea Dance, Provincetown, 1982” (September 2022).
Diane Seuss joins Kevin to read and discuss “Ode,” by Jane Huffman, and her own poem, “Gertrude Stein” (August 2022).
Saeed Jones joins Kevin to read “The Wind Blows Through the Doors of My Heart, ” by Deborah Digges, and his own poem “A Spell to Banish Grief ” (June 2022).
Eileen Myles joins Kevin to read “Without, ” by Joy Harjo, and their own poem “Dissloution ” (May 2022).
Christian Wiman joins Kevin to discuss “Far from Kingdoms ” and “Outside, In Fact, There Wasn’t Any Change, ” by Patrizia Cavalli, translated by Judith Baumel, and his own poem “Eating Grapes Downward” (April 2022).
Amanda Gorman joins Kevin to discuss “Declaration ” by Tracy K. Smith, and her own poem “Ship ‘s Manifest ” (December 2021).
Amanda Gorman reads several poems for the New Yorker; featuring a textual intro by Kevin (December 2021).
Aria Aber joins Kevin to discuss “Half-Light, ” by Frank Bidart, and her own poem “Dirt and Light ” (November 2021).
Forrest Gander joins Kevin to discuss “Privacy” by Ada Limón, and his own poem “Post-Fire Forest” (October 2021).
In a special episode of the Poetry Podcast, Kimiko Hahn, Monica Youn, Paul Tran and Megan Fernandes join Kevin to read their work and to discuss the role of poetry in our tumultuous times (May 2021).
Toi Derricotte joins Kevin to discuss “We Feel Now a Largeness Coming On, ” by Tracy K. Smith, and her own poem “I give in to an old desire ” (March 2021).
Margaret Atwood joins Kevin to discuss “A Stranger, ” by Saeed Jones, and her own poem “Flatline” (December 2020).
Arthur Sze joins Kevin to discuss “The Problem of Describing Trees, ” by Robert Hass, and his own poem “Vectors” (November 2020).
Joy Harjo joins Kevin to discuss “Still-Life with Potatoes, Pearls, Raw Meat, Rhinestones, Lard, and Horse Hooves, ” by Sandra Cisneros, and her own poem “Running” (September 2020).
In a special episode, Tracy K. Smith, Marilyn Nelson, and Terrance Hayes join Kevin to read their work and discuss its relationship to protest and liberation (July 2020).
Clarence Major joins Kevin to discuss “Downpour,” by Billy Collins, and his own poem “Hair” (June 2020).
Elisa Gonzalez joins Kevin to discuss “Gathering Apricots,” by Czeslaw Milosz, and her own poem, “Failed Essay on Privilege” (April 2020).
Ben Purkert joins Kevin to discuss “Notes on the Reality of the Self,” by Jorie Graham, and his own poem “News” (March 2020).
Kwame Dawes jones Kevin to discuss “The Season of Phantasmal Peace,” by Derek Walcott, and his poem “Before Winter” (February 2020).
Ellen Bass joins Kevin to discuss “Quahogs,” by Frank X. Gaspar, and her own poem “Because” (January 2020).
Mary Jo Bang joins Kevin to discuss her translation of the second part of Dante’s Divine Comedy (December 2019).
Shane McCrae joins Kevin to discuss his poetry sequence “Jim Limber in Heaven” (November 2019).
Vijay Seshadri joins Kevin to discuss “The Moon and the Yew Tree,” by Sylvia Plath, and his own poem “Cliffhanging” (October 2019).
Eliza Griswold joins Kevin to discuss her poetry sequence “First Person” (September 2019).
Ariel Francisco joins Kevin to discuss “By a Lake in Minnesota,” by James Wright, and his own poem “Along the East River and in the Bronx Young Men Were Singing” (August 2019).
Campbell McGrath joins Kevin to discuss “Realism,” by Czeslaw Milosz, and his own poem “The Human Heart” (July 2019).
Natasha Trethewey joins Kevin to read and discuss Charles Wright ‘s “Toadstools, ” and her own poem “Repentance ” (June 2019).
Safiya Sinclair joins Kevin to read and discuss Natalie Diaz ‘s poem “From the Desire Field ” and her own poem “Gospel of the Misunderstood ” (May 2019).
Rachel Eliza Griffiths joins Kevin to discuss “Rain Light, ” by W. S. Merwin, and her own poem “Heart of Darkness ” (April 2019).
Peter Balakian joins Kevin to read and discuss Theodore Roethke ‘s poem “In a Dark Time ” and his own poem “Eggplant ” (March 2019).
Craig Morgan Teicher joins Kevin to read and discuss Forrest Gander ‘s poem “Son, ” and his own poem, also titled “Son ” (February 2019).
Deborah Landau joins Kevin to read and discuss Anne Sexton ‘s poem “Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman ” and her own poem “Solitaire ” (November 2018).
Kaveh Akbar joins Kevin to read and discuss Ellen Bryant Voigt ‘s poem “Groundhog ” and his own poem “What Use Is Knowing Anything If No One Is Around ” (October 2018).
Nick Flynn joins Kevin to read and discuss Zoë Hitzig ‘s poem “Objectivity as Blanket ” and his own poem “The King of Fire ” (September 2018).
Catherine Barnett joins Kevin to read and discuss Szymborska ‘s poem “Maybe All This ” and her own poem “Son in August ” (August 2018).
Nicole Sealey joins Kevin to read and discuss Ellen Bass ‘s poem “Indigo, ” and her own poem “A Violence ” (July 2018).
Tiana Clark joins Kevin to read and discuss Natasha Trethewey ‘s poem “Repentance, ” and her own poem “Nashville ” (June 2018).
Kevin discusses Ada Limón and Natalie Diaz ‘s collaborative letter-writing project, “Envelopes of Air ” (May 2018).
Marie Howe joins Kevin to read and discuss Lucie Brock-Broido ‘s poem “The American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act ” and her own poem “The Star Market ” (March 2018).
Meena Alexander joins Kevin to read and discuss Gerald Stern ‘s poem “Adonis ” and her own poem “Kochi by the Sea ” (February 2018).
Terrance Hayes joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Matthew Dickman ‘s poem “Fire ” and his own poem “New York Poem ” (January 2018).
David Lehman joins Kevin Young to read and discuss John Ashbery ‘s poem “Worsening Situation ” and his own poem “Stages on Life ‘s Way ” (December 2017).
Tracy K. Smith joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Dickman ‘s poem “Minimum Wage ” and her own poem “Declaration ” (November 2017).

Interviews & Features

Gabrielle Calvocoressi joins Kevin on The New Yorker Radio Hour to talk about their newest collection, “The New Economy” (December 2025).
Kevin is interviewed by David Remnick on The New Yorker Radio Hour (September 2025).
KMUW’s Marginalia podcast features Kevin and Beth Golay discussing Night Watch (September 2025).
WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show interviews Kevin about A Century of Poetry in the New Yorker: 1925-2025 (March 2025).
The New Yorker Poetry Podcast features Kevin and Deborah Garrison discussing A Century of Poetry in The New Yorker (January 2025).
The New Yorker Radio Hour interviews Kevin and Deborah Treisman about literary anthologies published for the magazine ‘s centennial (January 2025).
Ada Limón reads Kevin’s poem “Egrets” on The Slowdown (February 2022).
Kevin reads poetry from Stones on BBC Radio’s “The Verb” (January 2022).
NPR’s Morning Edition interviews Kevin about Stones (September 2021).
Kevin and Dwandalyn Reece talk to Washington Post Live about the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap (August 2021).
Kevin speaks to WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi about his new role at the NMAAHC (March 2021).
1010 WINS interviews Kevin for Black History Month (January 2021).
WGBH highlights an old interview with Kevin about Brown, one of Boston Public Radio’s favorite interviews (December 2020).
For the New Yorker Radio Hour, Kevin selects two poems that stand as monuments for what we have lived through in 2020 (December 2020).
WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show re-airs an interview with Kevin about Bunk (November 2020).
WNYC’s All Of It interviews Kevin about African American Poetry (October 2020).
NPR Morning Edition interviews Kevin about his new position at NMAAHC and African American Poetry (October 2020).
Tracy K. Smith and The Poetry Foundation’s “The Slowdown” selects Kevin’s There Is a Light That Never Goes Out as their poem of the day (September 2020).
Kevin is interviewed on British band Tunng’s podcast, “The Dead Club ” (September 2020).
Kevin is interviewed on Hari Kunzru’s podcast, “Into the Zone” (September 2020).
On WNYC’s All of It, Kevin and Kelly L. Carter discuss the legacy of “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman (August 2020).
Kevin is interviewed in BBC Radio 3’s documentary about the Harlen renaissance magazine Fire (August 2020).
BBC Radio 4 interviews Kevin for their documentary Archiving Black America (July 2020).
On WNYC’s Juneteenth Special, Brian Lehrer interviews Kevin about the Schomburg Center’s Black Liberation Reading List For Young Readers (June 2020).
Kevin discusses The Schomburg Center’s Black Liberation Reading List on WNYC’s All Things Considered (June 2020).
Kevin is interviewed about Bunk on Scene on Radio, alongside journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and (through voiceover) Ida B. Wells (May 2020).
Kevin interviews Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith on the New Yorker Radio Hour (July 2019).
Chef and restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson talks to Kevin Young on his Audible Series, Our Harlem (June 2019).
Kevin interviews Marlon James on Library Talks (June 2019).
Kevin and Claudia Rankine discuss “Brown ” on Library Talks (May 2019).
Dr. Carla Hayden and Tracy K. Smith join Kevin for discussion on the NYPL Podcast, Library Talks (May 2019).
Kevin is interviewed on Wisconsin Public Radio ‘s “Beta “ (December 2018).
Kevin is interviewed on WNYC ‘s The Brian Lehrer Show (May 2018).
Actress Loretta Devine reads Kevin ‘s poem “Three Is the Magic Number ” from Brown for the New York Times ’ “Read T a Poem ” series (April 2018).
Kevin and three other contemporary poets discuss poetry on NPR ‘s 1A (April 2018).
NPR ‘s Morning Edition interviews Kevin (April 2018).
“Nightstick [A Mural for Michael Brown] ” is the Poem of the Day at Poets.org (April 2018).
Kevin is interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio (March 2018).
Kevin is interviewed on CBC ‘s “Writers & Company ” (March 2018).
Kevin is interviewed on NPR ‘s “It ‘s Been a Minute “ (January 2018).
WBUR “Radio Boston “ interviews Kevin (December 2017).
Kevin is interviewed on the B&N Podcast (December 2017).
WGBH “Boston Public Radio “ interviews Kevin (December 2017).
NPR “On the Media “ host Brooke Gladstone speaks at length with Kevin (December 2017).
KCRW “Press Play “ interviews Kevin (November 2017).
KUOW “The Record “ interviews Kevin (November 2017).
The NYPL Podcast broadcasts Kevin ‘s launch event at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (November 2017).
Slate ‘s “Trumpcast “ interviews Kevin about Bunk (November 2017).
Kevin is interviewed on WNYC ‘s “Brian Lehrer Show “ (November 2017).
NPR “All Things Considered “ host Michel Martin talks with Kevin about Bunk (November 2017).
Poets & Writers editors discuss their cover story on Kevin on the Ampersand podcast (November 2017).
The NYPL podcast Library Talks features a live discussion between Kevin and “I Am Not Your Negro ” director Raoul Peck at the Schomburg Center (September 2017).
Kevin chats with The Potlikker Papers author John T. Edge on Prince St. podcast (May 2017).
NPR All Things Considered interviews Kevin about the Schomburg Center ‘s acquisition of James Baldwin ‘s papers (April 2017).
The NYPL podcast Library Talks features a conversation between Kevin and chef/writer Gabrielle Hamilton at the Schomburg Center (August 2016).
NPR ‘s Code Switch features an oratorio written by Kevin in “A Musical Tribute For A Waiter Who Spoke Out Against Racism “ (November 2014).
Kevin discusses Book of Hours on NPR ‘s Fresh Air with host Terry Gross (March 2014).
Tracy K. Smith reads Kevin ‘s poem “Crowning ” on The New Yorker “Poetry Podcast “ (January 2014).
American Public Radio show The Splendid Table features The Hungry Ear (November 2012).
NPR ‘s All Things Considered covers Calabash Literary Festival in Jamaica, interviews Kevin (July 2012).
The Dark Room Collective reunites for a reading at the Poetry Foundation (April 2012).
The New York Times Book Review Podcast reviews The Grey Album (April 2012).
Christopher Lydon interviews Kevin for Radio Open Source (April 2012).
NPR ‘s All Things Considered features Kevin on NewsPoet (March 2012).
WNYC ‘s The Takeaway interviews Kevin about The Grey Album (March 2012).
Kevin discusses The Art of Losing on NPR ‘s Morning Edition (April 2010).
Kevin reads “The Mission ” for Poetry Magazine podcast (October 2009).
Kevin reads “Midwestern Blues ” for Poetry Foundation ‘s Poetry Off the Shelf (September 2009).
NPR ‘s All Things Considered includes Dear Darkness in their “Best Books of 2008 ” (December 2008).
Kevin reads several poems at the Key West Literary Seminar (September 2008).
Kevin reads “Elegy, Father ‘s Day ” for Slate ‘s weekly Poem series (October 2007).
WBUR Boston ‘s On Point with Tom Ashbrook features Kevin and For the Confederate Dead (2007).
NPR ‘s Morning Edition interviews Kevin about Black Maria (March 2005).
Kevin reads from Jelly Roll on tour (2003).
NPR ‘s All Things Considered interviews poet Catherine Bowman about Kevin ‘s first collection, Most Way Home (February 1999).