Poet and educator Christian Wiman concedes that he’s not much of a “beach reader,” but summer does bring the opportunity to revel in poetry, new and old.
Wiman is the Clement-Muehl Professor in the Practice of Communication Arts at Yale Divinity School and a lecturer of English in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He is the author, editor, or translator of many books, including “The Dance: Poems” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026), “Glimmerings: Letters Between a Poet and a Theologian” (HarperOne, 2026), and “Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair”(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024).
Christian Wiman
What’s your “beach read” this summer?
Christian Wiman: “Inside the Box” by the poet and critic W. S. Di Piero. It’s a collection of his prose writings over the past forty years and filled with brilliant perceptions on poetry, visual art, life. I should say, though, that I would never qualify as a beach reader, though last summer I did read Ian MacGilchrist’s thousand-page tome on brain science and consciousness on actual beaches in Greece — while my family romped in the waves.
Is there anything you’re reading for your area of expertise?
Wiman: I guess poetry is supposed to be my area of expertise, though there’s really no such thing as an expert in poetry. It’s like being an expert Buddhist. But I am working on a big anthology of poems that can help people live their lives, and I’ve been reading deeply and widely in the last hundred years of poetry. The poetry of Josephine Miles and Anne Stevenson have been startling and fresh discoveries for me.
Is there a new book you are looking forward to picking up?
Wiman: David Biespiel’s selected poems, which is forthcoming from the small, excellent press Unbound Editions. Biespiel’s language is singular, energetic, and always surprising. I’m looking forward to seeing the work culled and gathered in this collection.
