Elizabeth Alexander
President of the Andrew W. Mellon FoundationWikipedia
33
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Search complete. 33 mentions across 8 episodes found for "Elizabeth Alexander".
Oct 15, 2026
Alexis MadrigalHOST
I'm Alexis Madrigal.
Alexis MadrigalHOST
What is it that poets do? In her new book, Signals Across Vast Distances, Elizabeth Alexander provides a few answers.
Alexis MadrigalHOST
She writes, quote, "'To me, being a poet not only means making poems.
Alexis MadrigalHOST
It also means being attuned and reverent to the power of distilled, precise words in the form of poems, but also as carriers of souls.
Alexis MadrigalHOST
It takes the form not of a pile of evidence, but an arrangement of different types of true things.
Alexis MadrigalHOST
It speaks to our moment, this strange self-contradictory moment from different angles, drawing power by its movement across terrains.
Alexis MadrigalHOST
And Elizabeth Alexander joins us this morning.
Alexis MadrigalHOST
She is in her adjacent life, the president of the Mellon Foundation.
Sean CarrollHOST
That's one of the issues that I kind of like to harp about.
Sean CarrollHOST
Daniel Bagley says, "As a writer of poetry myself, I was super grateful that you had Elizabeth Alexander on the podcast.
Sean CarrollHOST
But there seemed to be a note of desperation about the state of poetry in the public eye.
Sean CarrollHOST
Moreover, it was depressing to me that the idea of play was not mentioned once, as many of the great poets I can think of play with words quite a bit, and it's entertaining and thought-provoking.
Sean CarrollHOST
For poetry.
Sean CarrollHOST
Uh, in terms of if there's room for poets doing playful things, of course.
Sean CarrollHOST
Of course there are, and I-- and you shouldn't interpret anything that, uh, Elizabeth Alexander and I said to imply otherwise.
Sean CarrollHOST
When you talk about poetry, there's a million things you can talk about.
Callie CrossleyHOST
That's Creole for something extra.
Callie CrossleyHOST
In Praise Song for the Day, her poem composed for President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration, poet Elizabeth Alexander spoke about love beyond marital, filial, national.
Callie CrossleyHOST
Love that casts a widening pool of light, love with no need to preempt grievance.
Callie CrossleyHOST
In her bestselling memoir, The Light of the World, author Alexander warns, "Half of the things are as they seem.
Callie CrossleyHOST
The other half, who knows? This has always been true." And now, in her new book, Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales, Alexander urges readers to make a to-do list for life, which includes action items like this: "Bring into the room the voices that are not in the room with you." With prose that stirs and soothes, Alexander braised the threads of her multiple perspectives as a poet and author, mother, professor, and philanthropist to examine the vast distances between us and ponder what it will take to achieve communal connectedness.
Callie CrossleyHOST
Elizabeth Alexander is the prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author, renowned poet, educator, scholar, and cultural advocate.
Callie CrossleyHOST
Her memoir, The Light of the World, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Callie CrossleyHOST
She is currently president of the Mellon Foundation, the nation's largest funder of the arts, culture, and humanities.
Callie CrossleyHOST
It's all on our LGBTQ+ news roundtable.
Callie CrossleyHOST
Later in the show, poet and writer Elizabeth Alexander offers layered reflections in her latest book, Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales.
Callie CrossleyHOST
In poetry and prose, the former Yale professor and current president of the Mellon Foundation examines the disconnectedness of these turbulent times.
Elizabeth AlexanderSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
But, you know, I don't think there's a straight antidote, but I do think there are a lot of different ways that we might approach how we come together, how we connect, how we feel useful, how we learn lessons that we can apply, an understanding that we can apply to this very, very challenging time in our nation's history.
Callie CrossleyHOST
Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales by Elizabeth Alexander is our October selection for Bookmarked, the Under the Radar book club.
Callie CrossleyHOST
But first, joining me for our LGBTQ+ news roundtable, Jansen Wu, senior vice president of program development and sustainability at The Trevor Project.
Callie CrossleyHOST
Welcome back, Jansen.
29 MINS LATER
Callie CrossleyHOST
Jansen Wu is the senior vice president of project development and sustainability at The Trevor Project.
Jared BowenHOST
Callie, what's coming up on Under the Radar this week?
Callie CrossleyHOST
It's our LGBTQ plus news roundtable and also we're talking with Elizabeth Alexander who is a poet and also president of the Mellon Foundation about her latest book, signals across vast distances, essays and tales.
Callie CrossleyHOST
And, you know, if you've read anything of Elizabeth Alexander's work, it's just, speaking of beauty, it's just gorgeous.
Callie CrossleyHOST
And in this book, it's a mix of prose and poetry and art pieces.
Callie CrossleyHOST
that she selected to go throughout the book to really talk about the disconnectedness that we are in now and how we might bridge some of that.
Alex GilGUEST
That was a five-year grant.
Alex GilGUEST
during the administration of Elizabeth Alexander at the Mellon Foundation for $5 million.
Alex GilGUEST
That allowed us to
speaker_2UNKNOWN
do
Brian LehrerHOST
Brian Lehrer on WNYC.
Brian LehrerHOST
You may know our next guest, Elizabeth Alexander, because you've heard her on this show before, talking about her essay, The Trayvon Generation, or the work she's doing to support artists and jazz musicians as the president of the Mellon Foundation, which is the biggest funder of the arts in the country at the philanthropy level.
Brian LehrerHOST
Or maybe you remember when she read her poem, praise song for the day at President Obama's first inauguration in 2009, joining the ranks of distinguished poets like Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, and others who've read at inaugurations.
Brian LehrerHOST
Or maybe you read about her in Time magazine in 2022, when she was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Brian LehrerHOST
for her leadership in the arts? Well, Elizabeth Alexander has a new book that came out last week called Signals Across a Vast Distance that explores the roles of art and literature in helping to make sense of our political realities.
Brian LehrerHOST
It's part memoir, part manifesto, we might say, part close reading of poetry.
Brian LehrerHOST
And we'll get into all of that in a minute, but I'll first mention that if you want to see her live, she's going to be speaking at an event tonight at the main branch of the New York Public Library at 7 o'clock.
6 MINS LATER
Elizabeth AlexanderGUEST
In a time in this country, 1967, when there was also a great deal of royal and change and anxiety.
Sean CarrollHOST
You know, it's a distillation of language and imagery and thought into this really kind of elegant, um, rigorous art form.
Sean CarrollHOST
So today, our guest is Elizabeth Alexander, who is a professional poet.
Sean CarrollHOST
In fact, she gained celebrity by being a poet who wrote and read a poem at Barack Obama's inauguration back in 2009.
Sean CarrollHOST
Um, currently she's the president of the Andrew Mellon Foundation, so, uh, spreading the wealth to other people in the humanities out there.
Sean CarrollHOST
You'll even get a couple of poetry readings along the way.
Sean CarrollHOST
So let's go.
Sean CarrollHOST
[upbeat music] Elizabeth Alexander, welcome to the Mindscape Podcast.
speaker_0ADVERTISER
Thank you for inviting me.