Schenectady, N.Y. (May 8, 2002) – Poet Yusef Komunyakaa will give a lecture and read from his works on Thursday, May 30, at 7 p.m. in the Nott Memorial at Union College.
Sponsored by Union's English department, his talk is free and open to the public.
Best known for Neon Vernacular, which won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1994, and for Dien Cai Dau, a collection of poems dealing with his experiences as a journalist in Vietnam, Komunyakaa's 12 books of poetry and three CD's have made him one of
America's most compelling poets.
A native of Bogalusa, La., Komunyakaa's work moves between the bruised tones of the blues and the jubilant rhythms of jazz. Among other things, listening to him read confirms and deepens poetry's raison d'etre as a musical experience.
Komunyakaa is professor in the Council of Humanities and Creative Writing at Princeton University and was recently elected chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
He has won many awards for poetic achievement besides the Pulitzer: creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Thomas Forcade Award, the Kinglsey Tufts Poetry Award, the William Faulkner Prize from the University
of Rennes, the Levinson Prize from Poetry Magazine, the Hanes Poetry Prize, the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award from the American Academy
of Arts and Letters and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Award for lifetime achievement.
For calendar listings:
Speaker: Poet Yusef
Komunyakaa
Topic: Lecture and reading from works
Date: Thursday, May 30
Time: 7 p.m.
Place: Nott Memorial, Union College
Cost: free and open to public
Information: 388-6131