About

Every weekday, U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith delivers a different way to see the world – through poetry. Produced in partnership with the Library of Congress and the Poetry Foundation.

Production Team

Tracy Smith

Tracy K. Smith is one of the most celebrated poets of our time. She served as the 22nd United States Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2019, and is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Ordinary Light and several books of poetry, including her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Life on Mars. She is the director of the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University, and hosts The Slowdown.

Jennifer Lai

Jennifer is the producer of The Slowdown. Before joining APM, she was a producer at Panoply, where she helped make Family Ghosts, Job Squad, and Happier in Hollywood. Previously, Jennifer worked at Slate, the Huffington Post, and the Poetry Foundation. She is also a poet and digs all your line breaks.

Tracy Mumford

Tracy is a development producer for American Public Media. She launched and produces The Slowdown, as well as Decomposed and other projects in the works. She produced and co-hosted the Peabody Award-winning podcast, 74 Seconds. She sometimes appears as an insect or a toenail fungus on Brains On.

Kristina Lopez

Kristina is a Digital Producer for The Hilarious World of Depression, Brains On, and more. In 2017, she was an AIR New Voices scholar and led a panel at WNYC's Werk It Festival about her personal podcast, Plz Advise. In 2019, Kristina participated in Poynter's Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media. She wants to be friends with your dog.