Naomi+bio

__Naomi Bio.__ **__Naomi Shihab Nye __**  **Award-winning Poet, Writer, Anthologist, and Educator **  Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself as a “wandering poet.” She has spent 35 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, Central and South America 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 25 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); and //Baby Radar// and //Sitti’s Secrets// (picture books). Other works include seven prize-winning poetry anthologies for young readers, including //This Same Sky, The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems & Paintings from the Middle East//, and //What Have You Lost? //Her recent collection of poems for young adults entitled //Honeybee// won the 2008 Arab American Book Award in the Children’s/Young Adult category.  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, and numerous honors for her children’s literature, including two Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards. Her collection //19 Varieties of Gazelle// was a finalist for the National Book Award. She is a regular columnist for //Organica// and poetry editor for //The Texas Observer//. 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: “The Language of Life with Bill Moyers” and “The United States of Poetry” and also appeared on //NOW with Bill Moyers//. She has been visiting writer for full semesters for The Michener Center at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Hawai’i.  **“Naomi Shihab Nye is a voice that America needs in its time of trouble. Her clarity combined with her verbal kindness and her knowledge of multiple cultures provide a strong, audible message that the only hope for reconciliation and understanding lies in the ideals set by the human heart.” ** **— Billy Collins ** ­ **“In the current literary scene, one of the most heartening influences is the work of Naomi Shihab Nye. Her poems combine transcendent liveliness and sparkle along with warmth and human insight. She is a champion of the literature of encouragement and heart. Reading her work enhances life.” ** **— William Stafford ** <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“Naomi Shihab Nye breathes poetry like the rest of us breathe air. When she exhales, the world becomes different. Better.” ** **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">—//The Grand Rapids Press// **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">