“I believe that an artist has a moral responsibility to engage the global society, and oneself, on issues of the day, to reflect the temper of the times. The artist must prick the conscience of society and engage the powers of a larger world outside the self. He or she must afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted, to borrow the Pulitzer ideal.”
— James Ragan
In Red Square prior to reading for Mikhail Gorbachev at the 1st International Poetry Festival in Moscow — 1985
James Ragan on stage preparing to read with invited poets at Moscow’s First Int. Poetry Festival — 1985
Performance by James Ragan, Seamus Heaney, Robert Bly and Bob Dylan for Gorbachev and audience of 8,000 in Moscow, Russia — 1985
Reading for Bulgarian President Todor Zhivkov and an audience of 6,000 at the 1986 World Conference, Peace, the Hope of the Planet
Reading with poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko at the Wilshire Blvd Temple, featuring the poem “Babi Yar” about Nazi genocide, Los Angeles — March 9, 1986
Reciting at Hosho Ji Temple, Tokyo, Japan — Oct. 14, 1988
With wife Debora, daughter Tera, and actor Jack Lemmon after performing for the official Chinese Delegation touring the US, Lemmon on piano and Ragan reciting poetry — Los Angeles, 1988
After performing with Allen Ginsberg at the Village Gate, New York — November 19, 1988
In attendance, Leonard Bernstein composer/conductor of the NY Philharmonic — 1988
Reading at the Los Angeles Theatre Center — 1989
With 1992 Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott after both performing in the reading series at the Los Angeles Theatre Center — June 1, 1989
Brian Wilson, Ragan, Hubert Selby Jr. celebrating Allen Ginsberg’s Residency reading for the Professional Writing Program at USC — March, 8 1990
Invited to perform for the 1st anniversary of the Nov. 17, 1989 Czechoslovakia Velvet Revolution — Prague, 1990
Reading for Ambassador Jack Matlock at the US Embassy with poets Richard Wilbur (seated), John Ashberry (at podium with translator), and James Ragan. Moscow, Russia — May 24, 1990
Performing to an audience at USC with poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko for the Professional Writing Program, Univ. of Southern California — 1991
Shakespeare and Company Bookstore, Paris — 1992
Top with author Alan Fox — Middle, store founder George Whitman — Bottom, James Ragan Reading to audience at Shakespeare and Company — 1992
Audience in attendance for the Miller/Ragan reading at the 1994 World PEN Congress in Prague
Reading with Arthur Miller for President Vaclav Havel at the World PEN Congress — Prague, 1994
Panel with playwright Arthur Miller, poet Rose Styron, and James Ragan, World PEN Congress — Prague, 1994
Ragan performing with Czech Nobel Prize nominee Mirolsav Holub at the Viola Theatre, Prague — 1995
Ragan and Broadway Actress, Julie Harris preparing for joint poetry Reading from Ragan’s book, The Hunger Wall
Lines from the poem “Terezin” :
“And with my hair soot red, I hurried through the “Gate of Death,”/ up the gallows knoll, past the oven grates to holding cells./ On the slab at Terezin in the “Lord’s House,”/ I climbed to bed cold as heaven, and played dead.” — James Ragan
Top, Introduction by Playwright Donald Freed, host of the book’s publication party — Below, Joint Reading with Julie Harris of the Holocaust poem “Terezin” from The Hunger Wall — 1995
James Ragan reading at the Karst Caves in Lipicca, Slovenia with translator
Audience, including Slovenian President Milan Kucan at the Karst Caves — Sept. 7, 1996
Slovenian Poet Veno Taufer reading Ragan’s, In the Talking Hours after reciting at the American Center, Ljubljana, Slovenia — 1996
Performing with author Gay Talese (wife Nan Talese in attendance) for the LA Public Library — 1999
Ragan family and friends attending the poetry performance of Ragan and Galway Kinnell, Carnegie Hall — 2000
After performing with Galway Kinnell at Carnegie Hall, pictured with Ragan family — 2000
Audience at the United Nations UNESCO World Poetry Day — 2001
Reading at the UN for the UNESCO World Poetry Day with Joyce Carol Oates — March, 29 2001
Performing at the Poetry Café, London — 2001
Keynote speaker/performer at World Congress of Poetry, Bratislava, Slovakia — June 2-5, 2002
Solo performance at Carnegie Hall, New York — 2002
After reciting Ragan’s translation of Vaclav Havel’s poem “September Sunday” with First Lady of the Czech Republic, Dagmar Havelova at the Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance, LA — 2002
Ragan performing at the University of Southern California on the first anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attack on New York’s World Trade Center — 2002
Lines from “On Liberty and Church Streets in Lower Manhattan” by James Ragan:
“I would be a citizen of the earth and crawl the moon’s lit path/ to join a universe of hands in weeding out all boundaries.”
Reciting at the Polish Embassy for Ambassador Andrej Krawczyk, Prague — July 30, 2003
Reading at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books — UCLA 2003
Journalist Murray Fromson, CBS Correspondent, attending James Ragan’s reading and book signing at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books — 2005
Lecturer/performer on the Novikov Priboy cruise ship on the Volga River from Moscow to St Petersburg — August 2005
Performing along with poet Anne Waldman at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles — 2005
Reading for US Ambassador to France, Craig Stapleton at the US Embassy Paris, — 2006
Debbie and Ambassador Craig Stapleton at US Embassy, Paris
Reciting for Czech President Vaclav Klaus at the Los Angeles Czech Consul General’s residence — 2006
A gift of Ragan’s “The Hunger Wall” in Czech translation to Czech President Vaclav Klaus after performing at the LA Czech Consulate — 2006
Reading for members of the International Lost Cities Expedition, Lhasa, Tibet — 2007
Dalai Lama’s Winter Residence, Potala Palace, in Lhasa Tibet
Meeting with representatives of the Samarkand cultural community, Uzbekistan — 2007
Reciting at the Globe Bookstore Anniversary, Prague — 2008
Joint reading with famed Czech singer Eva Pelarova for Czech President Vaclav Klaus, Prague Castle — 2008
A Keynote address and reading at the World Literature Today Conference Normal University, Beijing — 2008
In addition to the Chinese hosts, the World Literature Today Conference included authors from 15 nations — Beijing, Sept. 16, 2008
Reading at the University of Lisbon as part of a State Dept. tour of five universities in Portugal — October 15 - 21, 2012
Reading at the American Center, United States Embassy, Prague — 2016
Greeting Czech Prime Minister, Bohuslav Sobotka before reading performance.
Reading for Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka at the Czech Consul General Pavol Sepelak’s Residence, Los Angeles — April 1, 2016
In a May 2009 TV interview for Tulsa Cable’s Writing Out Loud, Interviewer, Theresa Miller noted about Ragan’s work :
Miller: “You’ve read poetry for 7 Heads of State. You’re universally recognized as a literary Ambassador. Your poetry crosses borders.”
Ragan: “Thank you. Yes, to achieve a universal voice in poetry, I believe in addressing subjects that cross borders, and time.”