Words and Silences: An Evening with Naomi Shihab Nye and Ryushin Paul Haller

Friday, March 8, 2019
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Cubberly Auditorium

How can we stay true to what we care about through the words and silences of our everyday lives? Join award-winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye and Ryushin Paul Haller, former abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, for an evening that will bring together poetic and contemplative traditions to explore how simple engagements with language and stillness can help us find not only our place and path and but also draw us close to blessings beyond knowing. Discover with these two renowned teachers how to belong to your own lexicon, engage intimately with silence, and listen to yourself and all that is given.

Naomi Shihab Nye describes herself as a “wandering poet”, having spent 40 years traveling the country and the world to lead writing workshops and inspiring students of all ages. Drawing on her Palestinian-American heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her travels, Nye uses her writing to attest to our shared humanity. She is the author or editor of more than thirty volumes of poetry, essays, and stories and has received many awards, including a Lavan Award from the Academy of American Poets, the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, and four Pushcart Prizes. Her collection 19 Varieties of Gazelle was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Ryushin Paul Haller is a senior teacher and former abbot at the San Francisco Zen Center. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, he teaches throughout the U.S. and Europe and has led mindfulness programs to assist with mental illness and recovery. He has also helped bring contemplative practices into many communities, including prisons and schools, and has had a long involvement with the Zen Hospice Project.