November 27, 2007 Poet Laureate Charles Simic to Introduce Poets Jorie Graham and James Tate, Dec. 6

Press Contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov
Public Contact: Patricia Gray (202) 707-1308, pgray@loc.gov

U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic will introduce Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Jorie Graham and James Tate, who will read from their works at the Library of Congress on Dec. 6. The reading will start at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 6 in the Montpelier Room, on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. SE, Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public; no tickets are needed. Graham’s latest book is the widely acclaimed “Overlord: Poems” and Tate’s latest collection is “Return to the City of White Donkeys.” Both poets are unusual in their approach to poetry—Graham for her loquacious lines and artistic investigation of topical themes and Tate for his surreal and accessible, and often humorous, poems. Both have won high honors for their works. Graham is ending a term as the William B. Hart Poet in Residence at the American Academy in Rome. She teaches at Harvard University, where she is Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, a position held previously by the poet Seamus Heaney. Her book “The Dream of the Unified Field” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996. In 1990, she received a MacArthur Fellowship. Her latest book, “Overlord: Poems,” takes place in 1944 on Omaha Beach in Normandy. Tate is on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he teaches creative writing. In 1992, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his “Selected Poems,” and in 1994, the National Book Award for “A Worshipful Company of Fletchers.” He is also a Yale Series of Younger Poets award winner, and has won fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Tate’s work is clear, surprising, and has a wide appeal. “Return to the City of White Donkeys” has been compared to “Spoon River Anthology” for its cast of interesting and intriguing characters.

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PR 07-240
2007-11-27
ISSN 0731-3527