Work/Cited Episode 24: Becoming a Poet
Work/Cited is a program series that showcases the latest scholarship supported by the rich collections of The New York Public Library with a behind-the-scenes look at how the finished product was inspired, researched, and created.
In this episode author Willard Spiegelman discussed the extraordinary life of poet Amy Clampitt, detailed in his new book Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt.
Along with NYPL’s Carolyn Vega, Spiegelman explored how one poet wrote in near-obscurity for decades before the publication of her book The Kingfisher at the age of 62 took the literary world by storm.
Amy Clampitt with camera and feather on board ship (either 1949 or 1951).
Courtesy of the Estate of Amy Clampitt.
Episode Recording and Transcript
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Related Resources
Here are some handy links to materials and sources suggested in the episode:
- Check out Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt from the Library
- For more poetry and correspondence, see The Collected Poems of Amy Clampitt and Love, Amy as well as the website for the Estate of Amy Clampitt, which also hosts a writing residency
- Recent additions to the Amy Clampitt papers will be fully processed and available to researchers in the summer of 2023. In the meantime, dive into related files in the records of The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, and Ecco Press, and learn more about The New York Public Library’s Berg Collection, including how to schedule a research visit
- Explore the Library’s Digital Collections for photographs, maps, and ephemera documenting Greenwich Village during the time that Amy Clampitt lived on West 12th Street
- Follow Knopf Doubleday for information about their most recent poetry books
About the Work/Cited Series
Work/Cited is a program series that showcases the latest scholarship supported by the rich collections of The New York Public Library with a behind-the-scenes look at how the finished product was inspired, researched, and created. Catch up on previous episodes on the NYPL blog, where videos and links to related resources are posted shortly after each program. Sign up for NYPL's Research Newsletter or view the events calendar to hear about future programs as they are announced.