Three eminent poets - Elizabeth Alexander, Charles Bernstein, and Frank Bidart — will discuss three other eminent poets - Gwendolyn Brooks, Louis Zukofsky, and James Merrill — and read from their works as part of the spring New York University Creative Writing Program Reading Series on Thursday, April 6, at 7 p.m. at NYU’s Silver Center, Jurow Hall, 100 Washington Square East. The event is free and open to the public; call 212.998.8816 for further information. This event is co-sponsored by the Academy of American Poets.
Elizabeth Alexander’s collections of poetry include Antebellum Dream Book, Body of Life, and The Venus Hottentot. Her honors and awards include an NEA Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and the George Kent Award, given by Gwendolyn Brooks. She teaches in the English and African American Studies Departments at Yale.
Charles Bernstein is the author of several collections of poetry, including With Strings, Dark City, and Rough Trades. Currently professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, he is the co-founder of the influential journal L=A=N=G=U=A-G=E.
Frank Bidart’s recent volumes of poetry include Desire and Star Dust, both of which were finalists for the National Book Award. Bidart is the co-editor of Robert Lowell’s Collected Poems with David Gewanter. In 2003, he was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
The next event in the spring NYU Creative Writing Program Reading Series will take place on April 17 and will be the Goldwater Hospital Writing Project Benefit Reading, with Robert Bly, Sharon Olds, and the Goldwater Hospital Writers.
The NYU Creative Writing Program, with permanent faculty members E.L. Doctorow, Paule Marshall, Breyten Breytenbach, Philip Levine, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Sharon Olds, has distinguished itself for over three decades as a leading national center for the study of literature and writing. The Creative Writing Program Director is Melissa Hammerle. The Reading Series, sponsored in cooperation with the NYU Book Centers and the Fales Collection at NYU, is a vital component of the Writing Program, bringing both established and new writers to NYU.
The NYU Creative Writing Program Reading Series is made possible by generous support from the Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund, established in The New York Community Trust by the founders of the Reader’s Digest Association. Additional support is provided by Robert E. Holmes.