Naomi Shihab Nye was born to a Palestinian father and an American mother and grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio, where she still lives. Winner of the 2024 Wallace Stevens Award for Lifetime Achievement, she is the author of numerous poetry collections, including Different Ways to Pray, 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, and The Tiny Journalist. In addition, she has published novels, picture books, and young adult fiction, including The Turtle of Michigan (Greenwillow, 2022). Designated the 2019–2021 Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation, Nye is on faculty at Texas State University.

Best Advice

by Naomi Shihab Nye
Listen to Naomi Shihab Nye read her essay:



Dear writing friends of all ages,

Writers are often asked for their best advice. Mine is very simple:

1. Pay attention. Be observant, stay curious. It’s up to you. One of my heroes, Ashley Bryan, used to encourage others to find the child inside themselves every morning. What did you love doing before you had so much to do? Taking some peaceful solitary quiet time, regularly, every day, just to daydream or meander can help. It’s part of our job. We have enough times to be on task, but space is needed in between, for sustenance.

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