On Friday, October 4th, attendees of BOA’s 22nd annual Dine & Rhyme fundraiser were treated to a very special evening with poet Naomi Shihab Nye. With a focus on her newest BOA poetry publication, The Tiny Journalist (BOA, April 2019), Naomi read poems and shared stories about her personal connections to Palestine.
After the talk, she signed books for two hours, while fans and friends of BOA mingled and ate delicious Middle Eastern food prepared by Julia K Caters.
Earlier in the afternoon, Naomi taught an inspiring mixed-age writing workshop at St. John Fisher College to students from the East Rochester school district, Penfield Place nursing home, St. John Fisher college, and members of Rochester’s Arabic community.
As always, Naomi’s visit to Rochester filled us all with inspiration, hope, and new perspectives on how to create a more harmonious world.
On behalf of BOA’s board and staff, we thank all of our generous event sponsors and everyone who attended Dine & Rhyme. We also thank Evan Dawson, host of WXXI’s Connections, for his insightful radio interview of Naomi and BOA Publisher Peter Conners in advance of the event.
Most of all, we thank Naomi Shihab Nye for so graciously donating her time and energy in support of BOA’s mission to bring vital voices to a world of readers. We are tremendously grateful to have her as part of our BOA family.
