Event | Lectures and Symposia Nobel Laureate Poets: Gabriela Mistral, Nelly Sachs, Wisława Szymborska

As we celebrate Women's History Month, join us at the Library of Congress for an event in collaboration with the Polish, Swedish, German, and Chilean Embassies in Washington, D.C., honoring three seminal 20th century Nobel Laureates in Literature. Featuring translators Edward Hirsch, Anna Deeny and Joshua Weiner, and moderated by poet and scholar Rosanna Warren. Book signing to follow the event.

By using the ticket button above, you will gain entry to all of the below events:

Collection Display
5:00 - 7:00 p.m. in LJ-113
The Library’s curators will be displaying unique items related to women authors from Continental Europe and Latin America who have been awarded the Nobel Prize in in Literature.

Poetry Reading and Discussion
7:00 - 8:00 p.m. in L-J119
Experts and translators of Mistral, Sachs and Szymborska will read poetry selections and discuss their legacy. Moderated by poet and scholar Rosanna Warren. Book signing to follow the event.

About the Panelists

Anna Deeny Morales 
Anna Deeny Morales is a U.S.-based Latina writer who grew up between Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow for her translation of Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral, Deeny Morales has translated poetry by Raúl Zurita, Nicanor Parra and Amanda Berenguer, among others. Forthcoming works include “Ecopoems,” “Storm” and “Some Fringe Benefits,” a volume of selected works by Nicanor Parra, which she has edited and translated for New Directions; and Amanda Berenguer's “Identity of Certain Fruits,” which will be published by Point Zero Press. Deeny also writes operas. Recent works include “Las Místicas de México,” which debuted in 2024 with the IN Series and the Children’s Chorus of Washington. “ZAVALA-ZAVALA: an opera in v cuts,” with music by Brian Arreola, debuted at the Kennedy Center in 2022 was performed at Gala Hispanic Theater in 2024. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Edward Hirsch
Edward Hirsch, a Chicago native and MacArthur Fellow, is a celebrated poet and advocate for poetry. He has published ten books of poetry, including “The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems,” “Gabriel: A Poem,” a book-length elegy for his son, and “Stranger by Night.” He has also published eight books of prose, among them “How to Read a Poem” and “Fall in Love with Poetry,” a national bestseller, “100 Poems to Break Your Heart,” and “The Heart of American Poetry.” His new book, a stand-up comedy and Skokie elegy, is a memoir, “My Childhood in Pieces.” He has received numerous prizes, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pablo Neruda Presidential Medal of Honor and the National Jewish Book Award. He taught at Wayne State University and the University of Houston. Since 2003, he has been president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He lives in Brooklyn.

Joshua Weiner
Joshua Weiner is the author of three books of poetry and a book of political/cultural reportage, “Berlin Notebook: Where Are the Refugees?”  His translations include Nelly Sachs’s “Flight & Metamorphosis” (shortlisted for ALTA’s 2023 National Translation Award) and Ernst Jandl’s “The Ordinary Rilke.”  His translation (with Jay Hopler) of Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Book of Pilgrimage” was chosen by Arthur Sze for Best Literary Translations 2026,.  He lives in Washington, D.C., and teaches at University of Maryland.

Rossana Warren
Rosanna Warren taught in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago from 2012 to 2023 (now Emerita).  Her book of criticism, “Fables of the Self: Studies in Lyric Poetry,” came out in 2008. Her most recent books of poems are “Hindsight,” “So Forth,” “Ghost in a Red Hat” and “Departure.” Her biography of Max Jacob, “Max Jacob: A Life in Art and Letters” was published in 2020. She is the recipient of awards from the Academy of American Poets, The American Academy of Arts & Letters, the Lila Wallace Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation and the New England Poetry Club, among others. She was a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1999 to 2005 and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Her poems have been included in twelve editions of “Best American Poetry” and three Pushcart Prize volumes.