Endangered Languages: A Poet's Journey into Global Cultures

Bob Holman is a poet, spoken word artist, professor, activist, filmmaker and soon-to-be host of a PBS documentary on endangered languages. His focus on oral traditions has included a study of the origins of Hiphop in West Africa and inspired his current work on the cultural crisis brought about when a language is lost. It is the subject of his latest PBS project, "Listen Up! Language Matters with Bob Holman." Holman's new book, Sing This One Back to Me, includes translations of poems as sung in the griot tradition of West African storytelling. Dubbed a member of the "Poetry Pantheon" by the New York Times Magazine, he produced the PBS Series "United States of Poetry," was the original Slammaster and a director of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and has performed in places ranging from Madison Square Gardens to Addis Ababa. The Goldtrap Lecture in English