San Antonio's most celebrated poetess, Naomi Shihab Nye, lives in a house on S. Main Street, which borders the western edge of the King William Neighborhood. She was selected by Texas Monthly Magazine as one of the "20 most impressive, intriguing and influential Texans" for 1998. Recently, her poetry has attracted the attention of Bill Moyers, whose PBS segment on living American poets featured Nye reading some of her poems. In 2002 Moyers interviewed her on his PBS program NOW and had her read his favorite poem of hers, "The Art of Disappearing." Nye was also interviewed at length by Rachel Barenblatt for PifMagazine. Helpful discussions of Naomi Nye's biography and work (including additional links) are available at The Academy of American AmericanPoets, and at Voices from the Gaps.

The 2003 edition of The Bedford Anthology of World Literature included three of Nye's poems, with the introductory comment that, "In her writing she draws on the voices of the Mexican Americans who live near her as well as on the perspectives of Arab Americans like herself and the ideas and practices of the different subcultures in America" (Book 6, 1386). The three specific poems selected by the Bedford Anthology include "Blood," "My Father and the Figtree," and "Arabic," each of which expresses an Arabic (Palestinian) perspective on human experience. The fact that the work of Naomi Shihab Nye--like that of her fellow San Antonian, Sandra Cisneros--is being anthologized in major literature anthologies bears witness to the fact that she has "arrived," at least from the perspective of "academia." This may not be the most important area of recognition, but at least it will make her poetry more accessible to high school and college students.