Past Broadcasts Online: Afaa Michael Weaver (June 4, 2016)

On the June 4, 2016 broadcast of Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim I had the pleasure of welcoming Mr. Afaa Micheal Weaver to the show.

Did you miss that broadcast? We've uploaded a recording of the broadcast on the show's podcasting site. Click this link to listen:

http://www.podcasts.com/marvels-of-china-pathways-to-the-pacific-rim-ec77abf8d/episode/Show-18-June-4-2016-83bf

This remarkable American poet, educator, story teller, writer and editor is the author of numerous poetry collections. His honors include a Fulbright Scholarship, fellowships from the National Endowments of the Arts (NEA), the Pew Foundation, and he is the recipient of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and a Pushcart Prize, among others. Weaver is the director of the Writing Intensive at The Frost Place. 

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In 2015 his work City of Eternal Spring won the Phillis Wheatley Award for excellence in poetry at the Harlem Book Fair. This work was the final book in Weaver's Plum Flower Trilogy. 

Weaver's other works include Timber and Prayer: The Indian Pond Poems; My Father's Geography; The Plum Flower Dance: Poems 1985 to 2005; and The Government of Nature, and more. 

Nigerian playwright Tess Onwueme gave him the Ibo name, Afaa, meaning "oracle." Weaver teaches at Simmons College in Massachusetts and is the chairman of the Simmons International Chinese Poetry Conference and director of the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Center. 

Of Afaa Michael Weaver, Henry Louis Gates has observed that "Weaver of one of the most significant poets writing today. With its blend of Chinese spiritualism and American roundedness, his poetry presents the reader (and the listener, for his body of work is meant to be read aloud) with challenging questions about identity, about how physicality and spirit act together or counteract each other to shape who we are in the world. His attention to the way language works is rare, and the effects of that attention on his poetry are distinctive and expansive."

Referring to Weaver's work, The Government of Nature, Ching-Hsi Perng, President of the Taipei Chinese Club has said, "In these nuanced, sobering, and beautifully cadenced poems, the poet tries to deal with haunting, mysterious vines of the past, present, and future-whether of fear, anxiety, joy, love, or hope. Reconciling East and West, he achieves harmony and tranquility. A marvelous work." 

Weaver was given the Chinese name "Wei Yafeng." 

In 2005 he received the Gold Friendship Medal from the Beijing Writers Association for his work with Chinese poets. 

We heard from Weaver about many things, such as his early life, his work with Chinese poets, how his works are insightful and special for Chinese as well as Americans, his lifelong interest in Chinese culture and much more. 

Go to this Amazon.com link to purchase is work The Government of Nature and others: https://www.amazon.com/Government-Nature-Pitt-Poetry/dp/0822962314

Please check out his official web site at http://afaaweaver.net/