A poet of “extraordinary range and ambition” (New York Times Book Review), Tracy K. Smith is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book of poetry Life on Mars. Her other poetry collections include Duende, winner of the James Laughlin Award, and The Body’s Question, “a spare, honest, and insightful debut verse collection” (Essence). She currently teaches creative writing at Princeton University, and has contributed work to several publications, including The McSweeney’s Book of Poets Picking Poets, Poetry Daily, and The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry. Focusing on her relationship with her mother, Smith’s new memoir, Ordinary Light, explores race, faith, and the meaning of home.

A “master of the craft” (The Atlantic) of poetry, Elizabeth Alexander is the author of six critically acclaimed books of verse, including American Sublime, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She recited her poem “Praise Song for the Day” at Barack Obama’s first presidential inauguration. Her poems, short stories, and criticism have been published in The Paris Review, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, among many other places. She teaches English, African American literature, and gender studies at Yale. The Light of the World is a memoir of life after the sudden death of her husband and her subsequent reflections on gratitude, devotion, and personal evolution.

In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6ABC Action News morning edition