Bobbie Louise Hawkins documentary

Bobbie Louise Hawkins (1930-2018) was an American short story writer, monologist and poet. In 1993 Yasmin Skelt directed and produced a documentary on her life and writing, including interviews with Bobbie, Bobbie reading from her work, archive film footage and photographs.

Bobbie Louise Hawkins Tribute

Naropa University, June 17, 2018

Bobbie Louise Hawkins Tribute

The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, New York City, April 29, 2019.

Bobbie Louise Hawkins Reading at Naropa University on July 9, 2011.

Bay Area Writers, Indian Valley Colleges, Novato, CA, May 19, 1976

“Any day’s the same as any other unless you’re in it. Any day in any town.”

The stories Bobbie reads on this tape are stark snapshots of life in West Texas, miniatures, along the lines of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg Ohio. She brings a zen-like wisdom and a salty prose style to these stunning vignettes.

Bobbie Louise Hawkins reads "The Thought That Was Called Helen," a longer poem, on February 14, 1974, for The Poetry Center at San Francisco State University. Hawkins, living in nearby Bolinas at the time, shares the bill with Barbara Guest, with Poetry Center director Kathleen Fraser introducing the poets. This early black & white video comes from the second year of select video documentation of the Poetry Center Reading Series.