Tom Harkin: “I just had a long conversation on the phone with Jorie Graham, the…”

On the recordSeptember 17, 1997

I just had a long conversation on the phone with Jorie Graham, the poet from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, who won the Pulitzer Prize last year. She told me without that NEA grant--she had a little child--she would not have been able to take the year off to develop her talents as a poet that enabled her to win the Pulitzer Prize. Yes, she absolutely stated that to me. Some of these, maybe not. But I can tell you some people like Kurt Vonnegut and some people, when they first started out--no. They needed these grants to get up to a level.

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Tom Harkin

Democratic · Iowa

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govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Discussing the importance of NEA grants for artists during a debate.

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Tom Harkin: “I just had a long conversation on the phone with Jorie Graham, the poet from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop…”

Editor's note · Context