It is wonderful to meet a writer who measures her success not by the number of books sold but by the sheer pleasure she gives and takes from manipulating words. We asked the writer what it was about the written word that moved her so much and Naomi Shihab Nye, recipient of multiple American literary awards, replied, “The deep, moving power language may contain. The sense of pause, how we may read words and go back over them and read them again and be held, suspended, taken out of time into deeper time. Words are the tissues connecting our lives.”
Naomi Shihab Nye was born to a Palestinian father and American mother in 1952 in St. Louis, Missouri. No wonder crossing cultural boundaries is of great interest to her. Living today in San Antonio, Texas in contact with the Mexican culture, she published the anthology, “The Tree Is Older Than You Are.” Living as a child in the Middle East, she came into contact with that culture and channeled her experiences into her widely-lauded book, “Habibi.” It won the ALA Prize, Best Book for Young Adults, ALA Notable Children’s Book, New York Public Library Award for Teenagers and the Jane Addams Award. Following is our interview with Naomi Shihab Nye.
Is writing something that started early in your life? “I started very, very early. My first poem came out at age six and I continued writing all through childhood and teen years. I sent some poems to children’s magazines when I was seven. The satisfaction upon having someone say, after reading my first poem, ‘I know what you mean’ was an electric pleasure. The joy of being able to stand back from words and feel one’s thoughts on the page, to think as one wrote and come to new discoveries: this was the first sense of ‘power’ I knew and it was intoxicating! A respite, a relief.”
During the formative years when career choices are hazy ideas born of parents’ expectations and a child’s capabilities, Naomi Shihab Nye was already focused. “In college I consciously knew that writing would be the most significant part of my life, no matter what job I had. I had no idea that I would be able to work as a writer for so many years — working with students in schools, working as a visiting writer, as an ‘artist-in-the-schools.’”
The author’s life has taken her to the Middle East with the United States Information Agency promoting international goodwill through the arts, and with her family to Mexico and also into India’s intriguing culture. We wondered how travel had affected her work. “Everywhere we go becomes a part of us if we let it. And, of course, our connections with some places are deeper than others. I dreamed as a child of wide horizons and feel grateful for having seen so many different places and encountered so many different viewpoints.”
“The Space Between Our Footsteps” is a wonderful collection of voices and visions from the Middle East, a series of poems and paintings that Naomi Shihab Nye’s father advised her on. The book combines contemporary poets and artists with the works of such established writers as Naguib Mahfouz and Nazim Hikmet. We asked her to tell us more about the book. “At this point I have little faith in the political process in the Middle East bringing people together. Culture, language, music and food might stand a better chance. I knew that including Israeli poets in the book might be controversial for some people. One Arab poet wrote to ask if Israelis would be included and if they were, would not allow us to use his work. An Arab artist was angry with me afterward for not having told her that Israelis would be included. It was very important to me to include Israelis because I wanted Jewish and Israeli readers to read the book. If their writers were omitted, the odds were smaller that they would. I chose the poems; they are the poems I wanted in the book. They were my choices as editor. In my life, I try to cross borders and not be stopped by them.”
And one way to step over the arbitrary lines that borders represent is to give people the real picture. While most writers look to an older readership when they write on issues of identity, Naomi Shihab Nye has captured a younger and more impressionable audience with her book, “Habibi.” The book which is being taught in schools across the United States will do more to promote a positive Arab image than a hundred political activists. The fictional story will go right to the heart and touch chords that mere facts cannot. How does it feel to have her books being taught in schools? “It feels shocking and beautiful. To visit a school and see ‘Habibi’ in so many hands at once is incredible to me.”
How would you describe your childhood? “Growing up, I adored both my parents. They loved me unconditionally and they still do. That gave me ground to stand on. I used to think as a child that if either of them died, I would die on the spot. I could not go on without them. My father has a very cheerful, easy-going, friendly-with-most-people, personality. He was always popular among my friends and of course a bit exotic too. He was a great storyteller and he still is; I hear him telling stories to our son in that wonderfully loose, descriptive, rhythmic way that he always used. He became a journalist and worked for both American and Middle Eastern papers. I loved his strong, simple lines. My mother, an art school graduate, German-Swiss-American background, was a brilliant painter who gave up painting to marry and later became a Montessori teacher. She is intelligent and well-informed, interested in everything alternative. She made sure we were exposed to art, classical music, theater — all the things she missed as a child. My mother has always been a bit shy socially — unless she is one-on-one and feeling comfortable. Also she has always suffered from chronic depression, which placed a certain weight on me as a child. I felt responsible for cheering her up so I developed a positive, optimistic personality like my father’s, because I had to.”
What about the cross-cultural divide? “The ‘divide’ definitely existed but I would think of it more as various currents, sometimes joining and flowing smoothly together and sometimes clashing against one another. Being cross-cultural gave me an ability to feel I never belonged ‘totally anywhere’ which was a power. I had the power of the observer to stand back and watch as well as participate. Life was never dull in our house, though sometimes I wished it might be so I could just settle back into a corner and keep reading all my books.”
Naomi Shihab Nye was awarded the Arab Arts Award and received a standing ovation at the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s 17th National Convention in Washington, DC in June last year. We asked her what is currently in the pipeline. “In the fall of 2001 I will work through the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, commuting up to Austin — 76 miles — one day a week and teaching two classes of graduate writing students. I did this in 1995 and found it most enjoyable. But I have never sought a full-time position anywhere; it could be my nomadic blood and so do not accept regular full-time jobs when they are offered to me. But the ‘teaching self’ has given the ‘writing self’ power. It is not draining; it is invigorating. I always feel very inspired and uplifted when I have the chance to be with others who are interested and who want to talk about reading and writing.”
