THE JOHN ASHBERY POETRY SERIES AT BARD COLLEGE FEATURES TWO READINGS THIS FALL Geoffrey O'Brien will read from his recent works on November 6, John Ashbery will read from his recent works on December 11
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-The John Ashbery Poetry Series continues this fall at Bard College with two readings in November and December. These programs are presented by The Bard Center and are open to the public without charge. "The series brings to Bard, several times each semester, illustrious poets who present their work in public readings, and meet with students in class or seminar," says Robert Kelly, Bard's Asher B. Edelman Professor of English. "I consider it one of the most distinguished of the several series and forums that bring writers to Bard."
On Wednesday, November 6, Geoffrey O'Brien will read from his recent works. O'Brien is a poet, editor, and cultural historian. Editor in chief for The Library of America, he is the author of three books of poetry: Floating City: Selected Poems 1978-1995, The Hudson Mystery (a book-length poem exploring some curious local history), and A Book of Maps. He is also the author of several books termed "prose-poetry," including The Browser's Ecstasy: A Meditation on Reading, Bardic Deadlines, and The Phantom Empire (nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism in 1993). O'Brien is also the author of the nonfiction books Dream Time: Chapters from the Sixties, Hardboiled America, and The Times Square Story. His poetry, fiction, and criticism are widely published in such periodicals as the New York Review of Books, New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, and Paris Review. He was editor of the Reader's Catalog. O'Brien is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Whiting Foundation Writing Award. The reading will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Room 308 of the F. W. Olin Humanities Building.
On Wednesday, December 11, John Ashbery, the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard, will read from his recent works. He was recently made an officer of the Légion d'Honneur by the French government. Ashbery was named the poet laureate of New York State for 2001-02. In addition to receiving the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets in 2001, he is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award, a National Book Award, and a Pulitzer Prize for his Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, published in 1975. His newest poetry collection, Chinese Whispers, was just published in October. Other collections include As Umbrellas Follow Rain; Your Name Here; Other Traditions; Some Trees; The Tennis Court Oath; Rivers and Mountains; Shadow Train; April Galleons; Hotel Lautréamont; And the Stars Were Shining; Can You Hear, Bird; Wakefulness; and Girls on the Run. Ashbery is also the author of three plays; a novel (with James Schuyler); Reported Sightings: Art Chronicles 1957-1987; articles on art and translation, and verse set to music. Other awards and honors received by Ashbery include the Bollingen Prize in Poetry; MacArthur Foundation Fellowship; Common Wealth Award in Literature, Modern Language Association; Horst Bienek Prize, Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, Munich; Antonio Feltrinelli Prize for Literature, Rome; Chevalier des Arts et Lettres (awarded by France); Robert Frost Medal, Poetry Society of America; and the Gold Medal for Poetry, American Academy of Arts and Letters. Ashbery also served as chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 1988. The reading will be held in Room 102 of the F. W. Olin Humanities Building at a time to be announced.
Since 1995, the John Ashbery Poetry Series has been bringing leading contemporary poets to Bard for readings and discussion in an intimate setting. This year the series is organized by John Ashbery, Ann Lauterbach, Joan Retallack, and Robert Kelly. Other readings planned for
2002-03 include Slovenian poet Tomasz Salamun on Wednesday, March 19.
For further information about the series, call The Bard Center at 845-758-7425.
# # #
(10.15.02)