Of Poetry and Pittsburgh: A Conversation with Samuel Hazo

Samuel Hazo is a lifelong Pittsburgher, a finalist for the National Book Award, and Pennsylvania's first Poet Laureate. In this episode, Samuel describes his earliest memories of Pittsburgh, what it was like growing up in Squirrel Hill and East Liberty (where he was a Cub Scout), and attending Notre Dame in the 1940s. He also shares his memories of running the International Poetry Forum and tells Elise about the people he brought to Pittsburgh for poetry readings, including Grace Kelly and Gregory Peck.   His introduction to "cosmopolitan Catholicism"   Poetry as a part of public life   His time in the marines   The importance of memory   His work at the International Poetry Forum   His memories of Grace Kelly   Love and risk   How to bring poetry to the public   Samuel Hazo's website Piers Plowman The Divine Comedy Chaucer Christopher Dawson Francois Mauriac "The Poem" by W.S. Merwin "One-Liners or Less" by Samuel Hazo International Poetry Forum W.H. Auden Anne Sexton Gwendolyn Brooks Seamus Heaney Billy Collins Octavio Paz Naomi Shihab Nye W.S. Merwin Joyce Carol Oates Derek Walcott Eugene McCarthy Grace Kelly (Princess Grace of Monaco) Richard Pasco Archibald MacLeish John Donne Gregory Peck William Butler Yeats Sally Wiggin