Naomi Shihab Nye, Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets since 2010, gave a reading to such a packed house in Mabee Ballroom that organizers had to bring in extra chairs.

During her reading, Nye discussed how she came to want to write poetry. In her youth, Nye read lots of poetry and was inspired by it.

“I needed to go there [to writing poetry],” Nye said.

Nye, between readings of her books of poetry and newest book of short stories, offered insight into her own creative process.

“Sometimes you have to write things down…so you know what you’ve been through,” Nye said.

When speaking about her writing, Nye often made references to her father, who had greatly influenced her writing before and after his passing. She spoke about opening up her father’s journals and finding what she described as “floating Now.” Some more of her other works include “You and Yours,” which received the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, as well as “19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East,” “Fuel,” “Red Suitcase” and “Hugging the Jukebox,” according to the Academy of Poets.

Also, according to the Academy of Poets, Nye has received awards from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Carity Randall Prize, the International Poetry Forum and four Pushcart Prizes. She received the Academy of American Poets’ Lavan Award and has been a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow and a Witter Bynner Fellow.

Nye’s reading was a part of the Visiting Writer Series and was the second event scheduled for this academic school year. Debra Monroe, Steven Dietz and Marie Howe will all be speaking next semester free of charge.