poetry

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Faculty members, alumna among the 2017 Fox Cities Book Festival presenting authors

Lawrence University faculty members Jerald Podair and Melissa Range will be among the 50 authors who will conduct readings and talks Oct. 9-15 during the 10th annual Fox Cities Book Festival.

Author events will be held at 13 venues throughout the Fox Cities, including several at Lawrence, during the week. All are free and open to the public.

Jerald Podair
Jerald Podair

Podair, Robert S. French Professor of American Studies, professor of history and life-long baseball fan, explores one of the country’s earliest owner-city new ballpark negotiations and the subsequent economic and cultural impact in his 2017 book “City of Dreams: Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles.”

Podair, a member of the Lawrence faculty since 1998, delivers two readings from “City of Dreams”: Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Appleton Public Library and Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the Neenah Public Library.

A specialist in 20th-century history, especially presidential history and race relations, Podair also is the author of “The Strike that Changed New York” and “Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer.”

Melissa Range
Melissa Range

Range, assistant professor of English who joined the faculty in 2014, will read from her collection of poems entitled “Scriptorium” as well as more recent work Saturday, Oct. 14 at 11:30 a.m. at The Draw on S. Lawe Street in Appleton.

“Scriptorium” was selected as one of five national winners in the annual National Poetry Series’ Open Competition by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith. “Scriptorium,” which Range began writing in 2006, explores the relationship between standardized, official languages and vernacular languages, particularity as they play out in religious settings. It features poems about medieval art, poetry and theology, as well as poems about the Appalachian slang of Range’s upbringing.

Callie Bates
Callie Bates

Callie Bates, a 2009 Lawrence graduate, is the author of “The Waking Land,” which has been named both an IndieNext and LibraryReads pick. She will read from her debut fantasy novel Thursday, Oct 12 at 4:30 p.m. in Main Hall, Room 201.

Hailing from northern Wisconsin, Bates’ essays have appeared in “Shambhala Sun,” “The Best Buddhist Writing 2012,” “All Things Girl” and several online journals.

As a student English major at Lawrence, Bates was named the winner of the 2007 Nick Adams Short Story Contest sponsored by the Associated Colleges of the Midwest for “The Swans at Roxleigh,” a tale of a declining English country house in the days just after World War II.

Lawrence also will host two author visits during this year’s festival.

Will Schwalbe
Will Schwalbe

New York native Will Schwalbe returns to the festival to discuss themes from his books while encouraging audience members to talk about books that have shaped their lives Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Warch Campus Center.

Schwalbe is the author of “The End of Your Life Book Club,” which spent 12 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was named an Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Year. His most recent book, “Books for Living,” was published last December. Schwalbe has worked in publishing, digital media and as a journalist for publications ranging from The New York Times to the South China Morning Post.

Benjamin Ludwig
Benjamin Ludwig

Benjamin Ludwig will share passages from his 2017 “Ginny Moon,” Saturday, Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center. Ludwig’s first novel, “Ginny Moon,” a story of a teenage girl with autism, was inspired in part by his conversation with their parents at Special Olympics basketball practices.

On Sunday, Oct. 15 at 3 p.m. at Menasha’s Elisha D. Smith Public Library, Ludwig will discuss the dual aspects of Ginny Moon’s two voices: her inner voice and the voice she uses to speak with her family, friends, and classmates, and how her two voices serve as a vehicle for his  own personal beliefs.

Shortly after Ludwig, a long-time English teacher, and his wife married, they became foster parents and adopted a teenager with autism.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

 

Lasting impact of 19th-century women poets examined in Lawrence presentation

Alexandra Socarides, associate professor of English at the University of Missouri, discusses how women poets of the 1800s left their mark on American culture in a Lawrence University address.

Alexandra Socarides
Alexandra Socarides

Socarides presents “Their Words are Marching On: Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Poetry in the Twenty-First Century” Friday, Sept. 29 at 4:30 p.m. in Main Hall 201. The event is free and open to the public.

While Emily Dickinson has made it into the literary canon and the university classroom, Socarides posits many poems from the era surround us every day, among them “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “America the Beautiful” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The general public often is unaware of who these poets are, says Socarides, but they have impacted society’s thinking regarding issues as diverse as childhood, war, nationalism and religion.

Part of her presentation will examine contemporary poets who rewrote Emma Lazarus’ “The New Collosus” in the wake of President Trump’s position on immigration.

Socarides is the author of “Dickinson Unbound: Paper, Process, Poetics” and the recently published “Everywhere and Nowhere: Nineteenth-Century American Women’s Poetry and the Problem of Literary History.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree from Bates College, a master of fine arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University.

Her appearance is sponsored by the Marguerite Schumann Memorial Lectureship Fund, the gender studies program, and the English department.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey delivers university convocation Nov. 1

A Head shot of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey.
Natasha Trethewey

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey presents “The Muse of History: On Poetry and Social Justice” Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel in the second installment of Lawrence University’s 2016-17 convocation series. Trethewey will conduct a question-and-answer session immediately following her address. The event is free and open to the public.

A native of Mississippi and the daughter of a mixed-race marriage, Trethewey combines the personal and the historical in her work. The author of four collections of poetry, her writing frequently addresses societal issues regarding class, race and war.

Following the release of her first collection, 2000’s “Domestic Work,” Trethewey received the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, which recognizes the best first book by an African American poet. “Domestic Work” also was honored with the 2001 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Book Prize and the 2001 Lillian Smith Award for Poetry.

Her third book of poems, “Native Guard,” was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize.  “Native Guard” has been a part of Lawrence’s Freshman Studies reading list the past two years.

A photo of the cover of the book of poems "Native Guard" by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey.More recently she has released  “Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” a non-fiction personal profile of some of the people whose lives were forever changed by the hurricane.  “Thrall,” her fourth book of poetry published in 2012, explores historical representations of mixed-race families. Trethewey will read from “Thrall” as part of her address.

In 2012, Trethewey was named the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States by the Library of Congress, one of numerous honors she has received for her work. She also has been awarded fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Trethewey is a member of the faculty at Atlanta’s Emory University where she is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.”  Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Lawrence Welcomes Participants in the 2015 Fox Cities Book Festival

Lawrence University will host an artist, a poet, two photographers and an alumna author in conjunction with the 8th annual Fox Cities Book Festival April 20-26. All events are free and open to the public.

Crystal-Chan_newsblog
Crystal Chan ’02

Crystal Chan, a 2002 Lawrence graduate, is one of this year’s festival’s featured authors. On the heels of her critically acclaimed 2014 debut novel “Bird,” Chan presents “Beyond Being ‘Unique’: a Mixed-Race Author in a Monoracial World” Thursday, April 23 at 6 p.m. in the Appleton Public Library.

Lawrence, one of the sponsors of the book festival, will host a meet-and-greet with Chan Friday, April 24 from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Milwaukee-Downer room of the Seeley G. Mudd Library.

Amazon-God_newsblog
Martin Brief’s “Amazon God.”

Beth Zinsli, director and curator of Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center Galleries, will lead a tour of Martin Brief’s art exhibition “Amazon God,” Wednesday, April 22 at 1 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center. The exhibit explores the difficulty of describing God using language. Brief, known for his focus on language, almost to the point of obsessiveness, creates artworks that dig deep into the meaning of words until he has reached the very limits of expression.

Brief was the recipient of a 2013 Howard Fellowship and a 2014 MacDowell Colony Fellowship. The “Amazon God” exhibition runs until May 3.

Cynthia-Marie-Hoffman_newsblog
Cynthia Marie Hoffman

Madison-based poet Cynthia Marie Hoffman reads selections from her 2014 book “Paper Doll Fetus,” Thursday, April 23 at 4:30 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center. The work, which explores pregnancy and childbirth, was praised by the Library Journal as “sometimes dark, sometimes tender, always surprisingly imaginative.”

Hoffman also is the author of “Sightseer,” which won the Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry, and the chapbook “Her Human Costume.”

Photographers Travis Dewitz and Kevin Miyazaki discuss their recent projects in a talk on art photography Friday, April 24 at 5 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center Cinema.

Travis-Dewitz_newsblog
Travis Dewitz

Dewitz’s book “Blaze Orange: Whitetail Deer Hunting in Wisconsin” explores Wisconsin heritage through the sport of deer hunting. Jeff Davis, editor of Whitetails Unlimited Magazine, says Dewitz “presents the deer hunt in a way that is unvarnished and yet poetic, graceful and subtle.” Describing his work as “conceptual, emotive and expressive,” Dewitz has provided photography for publications ranging from National Geographic and Trains Magazine to Vogue Italia and Child Model Magazine.

Kevin-Miyazaka_newsblog
Kevin Miyazaka

Miyazaki’s 2014 book, “Perimeter: a Contemporary Portrait of Lake Michigan,” reflects on the importance of freshwater in the communities surrounding it. The work came from Miyazaki’s 1,800-mile drive around Lake Michigan. It was commissioned by Marquette University’s Haggerty Museum of Art.

His photography has appeared in Martha Stewart Living, Midwest Living and The New York Times Magazine, among others.

Bird-book_newsblogChan’s “Bird” tells the story of 12-year-old Jewel and her family’s struggle with loss, secrets, silence and racial identity. Chan drew on her own experience growing up mixed-race in Wisconsin, which she describes as both rich and daunting. “Bird” has been published in nine countries and was recently announced as a finalist in the Society of Midland Authors’ 2014 best books by Midwest authors, children’s fiction competition.

Monica-Rico_newsblog
Monica Rico

Monica Rico, associate professor of history at Lawrence, presents “British Aristocrats & the American Frontier” Monday, April 20 at 7 p.m. at Menasha’s Elisha D. Smith Public Library as part of the book festival.

Rico is the author of 2013’s “Nature’s Noblemen: Transatlantic Masculinities and the Nineteenth-century American West,” which examines how the 19th century American West was mythologized as the place for men to assert their masculinity. Rico explores how this mythology played out in a transatlantic context.

Also as part of the book festival, the Lawrence University Students Poets Invitational will be held Monday, April 20 at 7 p.m. at the Copper Rock Coffee Company. As part of the Wisconsin Fellowship Poets Series, the event will conclude with an open mic and the public is invited to participate.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Lawrence Poet Melissa Range Awarded National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship

Lawrence University poet Melissa Range has been named one of 36 national recipients of a $25,000 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship in Creative Writing. She was selected from among 1,634 applications.

Melissa-Range_newsblog_12-14
Melissa Range

The highly competitive fellowship is designed to allow published writers to set aside time for writing, research, travel and career advancement.

Range, who joined the Lawrence faculty in September as an assistant professor of English, plans to use her fellowship to complete research for the third poetry collection she is writing, which will focus on the abolitionist movement. Her work frequently employs metaphor and features a musical style with an emphasis on the way words sound.

“Professor Range is a creative young poet of remarkable talent,” said David Burrows, provost and dean of the faculty. “The quality of her work, both published and unpublished, is outstanding. We are extremely proud of her success in obtaining this most prestigious fellowship.”

She previously has been recognized for her writing with the 2010 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prize and was the recipient of the 2013 teaching award for creative writing at the University of Missouri, where she earned her Ph.D. in English and creative writing.

Range, who first began writing poetry as college junior, has conducted more than a dozen invited poetry readings and is the author of the book “Horse and Rider: Poems,” which centers on violence and power in religion and the natural world. Her collection “Scriptorium” uses sonnets to explore themes of belief and doubt inspired by medieval and religious art.

Since its founding in 1965 by Congress, the NEA has awarded more than $5 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.