External Websites

The following links to external websites provide more information about the life and works of Natasha Trethewey.

Biographical information about Natasha Trethewey can be found on the following websites:

Northwestern University English Deperatment External
Biography of Natasha Trethewey.
Academy of American Poets External
Biography of Natasha Trethewey and several poems.
Blue Flower Arts External
Biography of Natasha Trethewey.
Emory University Faculty Page External
Biography of Natasha Trethewey, along with links to several radio interviews and videos of Trethewey reading her poetry.
The New Georgia Encyclopedia External
Biography of Natasha Trethewey.
Poetry Foundation External
Biography of Natasha Trethewey, along with several poems, audio recordings, and a review of Native Guard.

For the latest news and discussions related to Natasha Trethewey, see:

A selected list of news articles, interviews, and conversations, arranged in chronological order, follows below.

Selected Articles, News, and Interviews

Natasha Trethewey Took Years to Write ‘Memorial Drive,’ about the Murder of Her Mother" External
Chicago Tribune. July 29, 2020.
The ‘Existential Wound’ that Fueled Poet Natasha Trethewey’s Acclaimed Career" External
PBS NewsHour. July 28, 2020.
"Narrative of My Heart: A Conversation with Natasha Trethewey" External
Los Angeles Review of Books. July 28, 2020.
"Poet Natasha Trethewey Seeks Soul Restoration" External
Northwestern Magazine. Fall 2019.
"The Last Picture Of My Mother" External
Elle. July 20, 2020. (Excerpt from Trethewey's Memorial Drive)
"Natasha Trethewey: 'I decided I was Going to be the One to Tell My Mother's Story'" External
The Guardian. July 19, 2020.
"Goodbye to a Symbol That Told Black Americans to ‘Know Your Place’" External
The New York Times. July 3, 2020. By Natasha Trethewey.
Natasha Trethewey: Finding Her Calling in a Wound That Never Heals" External
Guernica, January 9, 2019
"Poet Natasha Trethewey’s new collection ‘soars,’ says NYT" External
Northwestern Now, December 10, 2018
"Natasha Trethewey Wants America To Have A Personal Reckoning" External
Buzzfeed News, December 8, 2018
"Building a Monument: An Interview with Natasha Trethewey" External
The Paris Review, November 15, 2018
"Former Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey on Why Poetry Unites Us" External
Vanity Fair, November 8, 2018
"Natasha Trethewey: By the Book" External
The New York Times, November 8, 2018
"Her Mother's Murder Made Her a Poet: Pulitzer Prize Winner Natasha Trethewey's Career is Tinged with Tragedy" External
Chicago Tribune, November 6, 2018
"The Ancestral Poet" External
Chicago magazine, October 2018
"Pain, Loss Fuel Acclaimed Poet Trethewey’s Fire" External
The Famuan, February 26, 2018
"Poet Natasha Trethewey named 2017 Heinz Award Winner" External
Northwestern Now, September 14, 2017
"Shout Out: Natasha Trethewey, English Professor and Prize-winning Poet" External
Chicago Tribune, October 26, 2017
"Former U.S. Poet Laureate to Leave Emory for Northwestern" External
The Emory Wheel, November 23, 2016
"Trethewey to Write Poetry Column for NYT Magazine" External
Emory University News Center, February 19, 2015
"Natasha Trethewey Delivers Final Lecture as U.S. Poet Laureate" External
The Style Blog, The Washington Post, May 15, 2014
Just Asking: Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey External
The Washington Post, April 23, 2014
"U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey: Poetry Still Matters" External
The Style Blog, The Washington Post, May 2, 2013
"Natahsa Trethewey: Poetry 'showed me that I wasn't alone'" External
The Washington Post, January 1, 2013
"Natasha Trethewey: Poet in Chief" External
Garden and Gun, October/November 2012
"How Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey Wrote Her Father's 'Elegy'" External
The Atlantic, August 14, 2012
"New Laureate Looks Deep Into Memory" External
The New York Times, June 6, 2012
"Library of Congress Names Pulitzer Prize Winner Natasha Trethewey as Poet Laureate" External
The Washington Post, June 6, 2012
"An Interview with Natasha Trethewey" External
Smartish Pace, February 16, 2011
"The Exchange: Natasha Trethewey" External
The New Yorker, June 8, 2010
"An Interview with Natasha Trethewey""An Interview with Natasha Trethewey" External
Bookslut, February 2008
"The Exchange: Natasha Trethewey" External
The New Yorker, July 26, 2007
"Native Daughter" External
The New York Times, May 13, 2007

A selection of radio programs featuring Natasha Trethewey or in which Trethewey and her work are discussed.

"After Years Of 'Willed Amnesia,' Trethewey Opens Up About Her Murdered Mother" External
Fresh Air, NPR. July 28, 2020 (40:07)
"Trethewey's 'Memorial Drive' Tells The Story Of Her Mother's Murder" External
Weekend Edition Sunday, NPR. July 26, 2020. (06:43)
"Natasha Trethewey: Poetry Speaks 'Across The Lines That Would Divide Us'" External
Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR. November 3, 2018 (07:58)
"Former Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey; Aviation Police Training" External
The 21st, Illinois Public Radio. April 13, 2017 (49:36)
"'Speaking The Unspeakable' To The New Poet Laureate" External
Weekend Edition Sunday, NPR. June 10, 2012 (03:34)
"Natasha Trethewey: 'Poetry's Always A Kind Of Faith'" External
Fresh Air, NPR. June 8, 2012 (27:00)
"Natasha Trethewey named US Poet Laureate" External
Patt Morrison, 89.3 KPCC. June 7, 2012 (10:44)
"New US Poet Laureate: A Southerner To The Core" External
All Things Considered, NPR. June 7, 2012 (02:00)
"Mississippi Meditation: A Poet Looks 'Beyond Katrina'" External
Fresh Air, NPR. August 18, 2010 (38:08)
"Natasha Trethewey: If My Mom Could See Us Now" External
Fresh Air, NPR. January 20, 2009 (14:13)
"Poet Natasha Trethewey, Hymning the Native Guard" External
Fresh Air, NPR. July 16, 2007 (39:44)

Podcasts and other non-radio audio recordings featuring Natasha Trethewey are listed below.

"Speaking for the Country" External
Poetry Off the Shelf podcast, Poetry Foundation. June 18, 2019 (23:41)
"Natasha Trethewey" External
Key West Literary Seminar. March 17, 2010 (17:57)
"2009 Sheth Lecture - Natasha Trethewey" External
Emory University. September 7, 2011 (1:04:30)
"A Reading by Natasha Trethewey" External
Blackbird, February 2006 reading at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
"Natasha Trethewey, Native Guard" External
Windows Media Player (12:51)
Poetry Foundation External
Includes audio of Trethewey reading her poem "Myth," as well as a longer clip of her reading and discussing her work
Academy of American Poets External
Includes audio of Trethwey reading her poems "Monument" and "Theories of Time and Space"

Many videos of Natasha Trethewey reading and discussing her work can be found through the following two sources:

"Poetry Reading by Natasha Trethewey" External
Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University. January 26, 2012 (44:35)
"A Conversation with Natasha Trethewey" External
Lenoir-Rhyne University Visiting Writers Series. October 7, 2011 (40:59)
"Poet Natasha Trethewey Reads at Cave Canem 2011" External
Hosted by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh and Cave Canem. June 23, 2011 (22:48)
"A Creativity Conversation with Rita Dove and Natasha Trethewey" External
Emory University. March 22, 2011 (1:12:37)
"Lunch Poems: Natasha Trethewey" External
Lunch Poems Reading Series, UC Berkeley. April 19, 2010 (28:27)
"Why I Write: Natasha Trethewey on Poetry, History, and Social Justice" External
Emory University. February 3, 2010 (52:00)
"Natasha Trethewey and John Edgar Wideman" External
Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series Archives. November 10, 2008 (1:37:18)
"Southern Space" External
Includes videos of Trethewey reading her poems "Theories of Time and Space," "Elegy for the Native Guards External," "Geography," and "Congregation External Link," as well as a video interview with Jake Adam York

Natasha Trethewey, U.S. Poet Laureate: A Resource Guide

General Inquiries: Ask a Librarian

External Websites

Selected Articles, News, and Interviews

Poetry Reviews

Monument: Poems New and Selected (2018)

Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (2010)

Native Guard (2006)

Bellocq's Ophelia (2002)

Domestic Work (2000)

Prose Reviews

Memorial Drive (2020)