Visiting Poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil

On May 1 and 2, Lawrenceville hosted Aimee Nezhukumatathil, this year’s Thornton Wilder Visiting Writer, who presented to all IV Formers in the Edith Memorial Chapel. Nezhukumatathil has published four poetry collections all centered around her perspective on everyday topics such as love, food, and loss. Her works have won many awards, including the 2003 Global Filipino Literary Award, the 2007 Balcones Poetry Prize, and the National Public Radio 2020 Best Book of the Year. 

Each year, a small committee of English teachers gathers to discuss potential visiting writers whose works relate to the content taught in the IV Form Advanced Poetry and Essay Writing classes. Candidates are selected based on how “passionate and enthusiastic” they are towards writing and whether they can provide “concrete advice [to] young writers who are trying to figure out what they want to write about,” English Teacher Maggie Ray explained. Nezhukumatathil was chosen because she could “act as a model for students, teaching them how to keep creativity alive in their lives,” Ray said. Her writing is often centered on themes of “joy and wonder,” which the English teachers agreed would remind students of the “cheerfulness” of spring, Ray said. Ray’s hope was for Nezhukumatathil’s focus on “wonder and curiosity in the natural world” to give students inspiration in writing and a new perspective on their surroundings. 

At the Chapel, the IV Formers listened to Nezhukumatathil read some of her poems and essays, with a Question and Answer session at the end of the presentation. Anabel Guerreiro ’24 noted that she “really liked” Nezhukumatathil’s writing style because many of her works—especially her book World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments—featured “nature imagery.” 

However, Guerreiro’s favorite part of the event was the question and answer section. “Someone [had asked] if she had advice for writer’s block, and she said, ‘I don’t believe in writer’s block because the world is just so rich,’” Guerreiro recalled, “‘You don’t want to wake up at 40 years old and realize you are waiting for the week to end. Find something that burns you with passion.’”

Although Chiedza Mupita ’24 had already read most of Nezhukumatathil’s poems in her Advanced Poetry class, she still found the readings “interesting and engaging.” Specifically, she enjoyed the content of the poems and the essays’ “connection to Nezhukumatathil’s childhood and upbringing.” 

According to Ray, the tradition of hosting Thornton Wilder Visiting Writers aims to provide students with a better idea of what writing might look like as a career path and some of the challenges professional writers face. “Writing never comes super easy; it’s just something that you work at your whole life,” she concluded, “and that doesn’t have to be a daunting feeling. It can be joyful or cheerful once you realize nobody’s first drafts come out perfect.”