Naomi Shihab Nye Personal Identity

Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet, essayist, children's writer, and distinguished anthologist (Almon 273). Naomi's works "explore the ways heritage and history contribute to personal identity" ("Naomi Shihab Nye"). Her writings continually show a love for human diversity (Almon 273). Although Nye's works have been influenced by her Palestinian-American background, she is neither Muslim nor fluent in Arabic (Almon 273). Nye's works are inspired by her current home of San Antonio, Texas; her Palestinian background, and her life's happenings of as a result of having previously lived in several different countries. Naomi Shihab Nye was born on March 12, 1952, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Aziz, a journalist, and Miriam, a Montessori teacher ("Naomi Shihab Nye"). She completed elementary and middle school in St. Louis (Tanner). Her mother is American, and her father is Palestinian (Tanner). Her mother was raised Lutheran; upon their moving to
On September 11, 2001, Nye was shocked by the terrorist attacks; but she was also appalled by the discrimination shown towards Arab Americans (Almon 285). In 19 Varieties of Gazelle, she provides a view into the lives of the many innocent people in the Middle East in a post- 9/11 world ("Nye, Naomi Shihab 1952–." 2686). The title poem uses her experiences at a wildlife sanctuary in Bahrain to "suggest that the beauty of natural beings offers consolation to human beings distressed by history, headlines, and human voices" (Almon 286). Not all poems in this collection are about the Middle Eastern conflict; a poem that has been deemed as one of the most powerful is “Rock,” which describes at the effects of an earthquake in Iran (Almon 286). Some of these poems also celebrate living in the Middle East or feature the daily lives of people in the region (Almon