Burstyn's favorite poets include Maya Angelou, Mary Oliver and William Butler Yeats.
“I’ve been lucky enough to spend my professional life as an actress: I worked as a model and dancer from the day I left high school and eventually reached a pinnacle in my career and won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards,” Burstyn said in a statement. “Nevertheless, it is poetry that has fueled and sustained me throughout my career and has been interwoven with every major life milestone I’ve ever experienced.”
Burstyn also is the author of “Lessons in Becoming Myself,” a memoir published in 2006.