On July 17, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced the appointment of California native Kay Ryan as the Library’s Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2008-2009. (See story on page 150.) The self-proclaimed “modern hermit” is the 16th person to hold the esteemed title. News spread quickly and garnered media attention for several days following the proclamation. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger even issued a statement applauding Ryan’s appointment.
Hillel Italie of the Associated Press said Ryan’s poems were “brief, reflective, profoundly and humorously aware of both the limitless cosmos and our limited lives.”
Ryan, who has often been compared to Emily Dickinson, told Italie of her appointment: “It’s kind of a thrill to go from nothing to this. This is probably going to keep me so occupied that it will discourage any contact with the deeper mind. But my deeper mind needs a break.”
Running the AP story were outlets nationwide, including the Buffalo News, the Charlotte Observer, the Columbus Dispatch, the Houston Chronicle, the Hartford Courant, the Indianapolis Star, the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Arizona Republic, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Miami Herald, the Chicago Tribune and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The AP issued a second story, featured in a variety of newspapers, that highlighted a spike in sales of Ryan’s books. Specifically, her collections “The Niagara River,” “Say Uncle” and “Elephant Rocks” held the top three spaces on Amazon.com’s list of best-selling poetry books and were out of stock the day the Library’s announcement was made.
Bob Thompson of The Washington Post called Ryan’s career “one of the most unusual in American letters.” To prove his point, he cited a rejection from her college’s poetry club, commitment to the profession only after she had turned 30, her refusal to take any creative writing classes and deliberate attempt at living a quiet life not encumbered with connections in the literary establishment.
With her tranquil life in question, Ryan admitted she did think twice before accepting the position. “I was afraid of sacrificing the good opinion of Emily Dickinson by being ‘public, like a frog.’”
Ryan told New York Times reporter Patricia Cohen that she never intended to be a poet. “I came from sort of a self-contained people who didn’t believe in public exposure, and public investigation of the heart was rather repugnant to me.” She went on to say that ultimately, she couldn’t resist. “I was getting diseased.”
Ryan was also featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, where she read two of her poems: “Home to Roost” and “Patience.” Host Andrea Seabrook likened them to an “empty suitcase,” a comparison that Ryan herself often makes.
“I think if you leave something empty but charged in some way, not overly elaborated, you can have a surprising number of things come out of people when they read it [poem],” said Ryan.
Sara Fay of Time delved a bit into the duties of the poet laureate, citing past individuals to hold the position and what they did with their tenure. She spoke with former poets laureate Charles Simic and Billy Collins, as well as Patricia Gray, head of the Library’s Poetry and Literature Center.
“For many laureates, the transition from private to public life is unsettling. Writers who feel more comfortable stepping back to observe the world are thrust into a position of authority,” said Fay. “For others, though, the sudden celebrity is an upside.”
Charles Osgood interviewed both Stein and John Hébert, chief of the Geography and Map Division, for a segment on CBS Sunday Morning. Hébert showed Osgood several maps, including one of Alexandria, Va., drawn by George Washington when he was 16.
“Congress very much tried to create equality. Not necessarily in square miles as in quality of the land, access to rivers,” said Stein.
“These sites provide a record for the future about the workings of the government in this day and time,” she said. “These things become important for public policy [makers] and also fodder for history books eventually.”
