Amsterdam Quote by Ruby Dee

My father is a poet, my stepmother is a poet, and so I always had encouragement as a child to write.

— Natasha Trethewey

I had written here and there about my mother in my poems. There are poems for her in my first and second books.

— Tracy K. Smith

My mother raised me to be a writer.

— Pat Conroy

Without a doubt my mother was an inspiration for my writing. This is true in many ways, but mostly because she is a wonderful…

— Elizabeth Strout

I started writing poetry when I was six. I had this teacher who didn't believe the poems I'd bring in were mine because they…

— Mariah Carey

I was very lucky to have a mother who encouraged me to become a poet.

— Philip Levine

My father was a rare poet. He was somebody who worked in the trenches. When he wanted to speak about social justice or gender…

— Shabana Azmi

I write from the various experiences I live. Not every poem comes from my personal experience, though. It could be something that a friend…

— Rupi Kaur

My mum is a singer and harpist, and my dad writes fantastic poetry, so we've grown up around a lot of words and music.

— Jessie Buckley

My mother is a poet/novelist, and my father was a pianist and cook. Both artists who colored my personality and brain in ways I'm…

— Dove Cameron

After my grandfather died I went down to the basement of my family house where my family kept books, anthologies and things and there…

— Edward Hirsch

I've always written. There's a journal which I kept from about 9 years old. The man who gave it to me lived across the…

— Maya Angelou