The poem I turn to Actors & directors present poetry that inspires them

Shinder (founding director, YMCA National Writer's Voice; Arrow Breaking Apart) combines several of his loves--filmmaking, directing, acting, writing, and editing--in this compilation of poems selected by approximately 45 actors and directors. The actors/directors are a diverse lot that includes Alan Arkin, Eve Ensler, and Philip Seymour Hoffman; the poets whose work they chose range from established (e.g., Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, and Sylvia Plath) to current (e.g., Nikki Giovanni, Seamus Heaney, and Mary Oliver). The text includes biographies of the poets and the actors/directors as well as a brief narrative explaining why each person selected a particular poem. On the accompanying CD are audio recordings of 30 poems read by actor Lili Taylor, National Book Award finalist Carol Muske Dukes, and others (the book's proceeds will support a scholarship in the name of the late character actor David Coleman Dukes, Muske Dukes's first husband). Former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins writes the preface. With this book, whose selections each reveal something about the people they inspire, much-beloved poems are made new again. Recommended for all libraries--both public and academic--with large poetry and/or audio collections.--Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.