Tender Spot

Naomi Shihab Nye has published over 20 books, including poetry, essays, picture books, novels and anthologies for younger readers. She has received many literary awards, and has been a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, a Witter Bynner Fellow (Library of Congress), and poet-in-residence at Ledbury Poetry Festival in Britain. Her work has been presented on National Public Radio on A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac, and she has been featured on two of Bill Moyers' PBS poetry specials on American television networks. She lives in Austin, Texas. Her many poetry books include Tender Spot: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2015), first published in 2008 and now expanded to include later work, including a selection from her 2011 collection Transfer as well as newer poems. She will be reading at Cuirt International Festival of Literature in Galway, Ireland, in April 2015, and at the Poetry Trust's Poetry Proms at the Snape Maltings in August 2015.

Her poems combine transcendent liveliness and sparkle along with warmth and human insight. She is a champion of the literature of encouragement and heart. Reading her work enhances life.

• 10 A Big Life by Naomi Shihab Nye 12 Loose Leaf by Naomi Shihab Nye 14 Touching Tender Spots by Robert Bonazzifrom Different Words to Pray (1980) 23 Minnows 24 The Art of Disappearing 25 Kindness 27 Walking Down Blanco Road at Midnight 28 Adiosfrom Hugging the Jukebox (1982) 30 Lights from Other Windows 31 Daily 32 Making a Fist 33 Famous 34 So Much Happiness 35 Hugging the Jukeboxfrom Yellow Glove (1986) 39 Trying to Name What Doesn't Change 40 The Use of Fiction 41 Yellow Glove 43 Two Countries 44 Pakistan with Open Arms 46 Rain 47 Catalogue Army 48 What He Said to His Enemiesfrom Red Suitcase (1994) 51 Travel Alarm 54 From Here to There 55 The Attic and Its Nails 56 Voices 57 His Secret 58 Violin 59 Living with Mistakes 60 Valentine for Ernest Mann 61 What Brings Us Out 63 Saved 64 Shouldersfrom Fuel (1998) 66 Muchas Gracias por Todo 67 Bill's Beans 68 Wedding Cake 70 Because of Libraries We Can Say These Things 71 Elevator 72 Eye Test 73 One Boy Told Me 75 Boy and Mom at the Nutcracker Ballet 76 Always Bring a Pencil 77 Glint 78 Alphabet 80 Hidden 81 Lost 82 Books We Haven't Touched in Years 83 The Rider 84 Fuel 85 Across the Bay 87 Boy and Egg 88 How Far Is It to the Land We Left? 89 Pause 91 Sad Mail 92 Open House 93 Vocabulary of Dearness 94 Pollenfrom 19 varieties of gazelle (2002) 96 Flinn, on the Bus 98 Different Ways to Pray 100 My Father and the Fig Tree 102 What Kind of Fool Am I? 103 The Words Under the Words 105 The Man Who Makes Brooms 106 Lunch in Nablus City Park 108 Red Brocade 109 For the 500th Dead Palestinian, Ibtisam Bozieh 110 Those Whom We Do Not Know 112 Visit 113 The Small Vases from Hebron 115 My Grandmother and the Stars 116 19 Varieties of Gazelle 118 Jerusalem 120 Ducks 122 Peace 124 Stone House 126 Bloodfrom You and Yours (2005) 128 Cross That Line 129 Someone I Love 131 Isle of Mull, Scotland 132 First Day Without You in 99 Years 133 Our Time 134 Fresh 135 The Day 136 For Mohammed Zeid of Gaza, Age 15 137 The Story, Around the Corner 138 During a War 139 The Sweet Arab, the Generous Arab 140 He Said EYE-RACK 141 The Boy Removes All Traces from His Room 142 It is not a game, it was never a game 144 The Light That Shines on Us Now 145 I Feel Sorry for Jesusfrom Transfer (2011) 148 Storyteller 149 Knowing 150 Amir & Anna 151 'The Only Democracy in the Middle East' 152 Maximum Security 153 Remembering William Stafford 154 Real Estate 155 Tiny Cucumbers 156 Swerve 157 Where Are You Now? 158 Hello, Palestine 159 For Aziz, Who Loved Jerusalem 160 Alive 161 The Young Poets of Winnipeg 162 Dear Mediator 163 Eye Contact with a Squirrel 164 Dallas 165 Burlington, Vermont 166 For Mutanabbi Street 167 Mystery 168 Endure 169 Ringing 170 Mom Gives Away Your Ties 171 At the Block Island FerryNew Poems (2008/2015) 174 Ted Kooser Is My President 175 The First Time I Was Old 176 Letters My Prez Is Not Sending 178 What Happened to the Air 179 Parents of Murdered Palestinian Boy Donate His Organs to Israelis 180 Gate A-4 182 One Way or Another 183 Business 184 A Few Questions for Bashar Assad 185 Arabs in Finland 186 Barbershop 187 It's Good to Sit Down with a Racist Every Now and Then 188 Landmine Kills 10 Girls Collecting Firewood 189 Broken 190 Only Pine Nuts Can Stop a War