Poets Philip Levine, Major Jackson and Jorge Evans will read at a Thursday, March 25, Good Thunder Reading Series event that was to feature eminent American poet Lucille Clifton at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Clifton died Feb. 13 after a long illness.
“Since Clifton is irreplaceable, we didn’t try to replace her,” said English faculty member and Good Thunder Director Richard Robbins. “We tried instead to get someone who, like her, is without question a major American poet. We also decided to feature a younger poet associated with an organization near and dear to Clifton, Cave Canem, whose mission is to cultivate the artistic and professional growth of African American poets.”
Distinguished poet Levine and emerging poet Jackson will meet with individual writers the morning of March 25. At 3 p.m. that day they will lead a discussion on the craft of writing in Ostrander Auditorium, and at 7:30 p.m. Levine, Jackson and Evans will read from their published work in Centennial Student Union Room 253. The events are free and open to the public.
An interview with the writers, part of the “Authors in Transit” series on public-radio station KMSU 89.7 FM, will air March 25 at 1 p.m., and Friday, March 26, at 11 a.m.
Levine is known as the poet of the working class, dedicated to writing “for people for whom there is no poetry.” Edward Hirsch of The New York Times Book Review describes him as “a large, ironic Whitman of the industrial heartland . . . one of (America’s) . . . quintessentially urban poets.”
The most recent of Levine’s 20 collections of poetry is "News Of The World" (Knopf, 2009). His "The Simple Truth" won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995, and "What Work Is" won the National Book Award in 1991. Levine, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Fresno, Calif., also received the Ruth Lily prize.
Major Jackson is author of two collections of poetry, "Hoops" (Norton, 2006), a finalist for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature-Poetry, and "Leaving Saturn" (University of Georgia, 2002), winner of the 2000 Cave Canem Poetry Prize and finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award.
His third book of poetry, "Holding Company," is forthcoming from Norton. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Boulevard, Callaloo, Post Road, Triquarterly, The New Yorker and other journals and anthologies.
An associate professor of English at the University of Vermont and faculty member of the Bennington Writing Seminars, Jackson received the Whiting Writers’ Award and was honored by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress.
Evans is a Minnesota State Mankato Nadine B. Andreas graduate assistant.
Those who want more information about the series may call Robbins at 507-389-1354, or visit the Good Thunder Web site.
Email this article | Permanent link | Topstories news | Topstories news archives
Minnesota State
University, Mankato
Mankato, MN 56001
1-800-722-0544
© 2005-2013 Minnesota State University, Mankato. Minnesota State University, Mankato is a member of
Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system and an affirmative action/equal opportunity university.
