Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC 20540
January 24, 2011
Press contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov
Public contact: Robert Dardano (202) 707-9493, rdar@loc.gov
Poetry at Noon Readings on Feb. 15, March 15, April 19 and May 24
Nine poets will read this spring in the Poetry at Noon program, appearing monthly from February to May, with a special performance by Shakespeare actors in April.
All programs will take place from noon to 1 p.m. in the Whittall Pavilion on the ground level of the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St., S.E., Washington, DC, 20540. The events are free and open to the public; no tickets or reservations are needed.
On Tuesday, Feb. 15, “Love Poems” will feature poets Michael Salcman, Michele Wolf and Sue Brannan Walker, who will read their own poems and share the work of several well-known poets.
Michael Salcman was born in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, in 1946. A retired neurosurgeon and past president of the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, he lectures widely about the connection between art and the brain. His first collection “The Clock Made of Confetti” was nominated for The Poet’s Prize in 2009. His second collection “The Enemy of Good Is Better” is forthcoming. He is also the author of four chapbooks.
Michele Wolf is the author of “Immersion,” “Conversations During Sleep” and “The Keeper of Light.” Her poems have appeared in Poetry, The Hudson Review, Boulevard, North American Review, Antioch Review and numerous other literary journals and anthologies. She is a contributing editor for Poet Lore, the oldest continuously published poetry journal in the United States. She teaches at The Writer's
Center in Bethesda, Md.
Sue Brannan Walker, the state poet laureate of Alabama, is the author of “She Said” and five other volumes of poetry, including “Blood Will Bear Your Name,” which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She has edited and published Negative Capability since 1981 and serves as the chair of the University of South Alabama English Department.
On Tuesday, March 15, Janée Baugher, Sarah Crossland and Elisavietta Ritchie will read on the theme of “Reversals of Fortune,” whether those fortunes be good or bad.
Janée J. Baugher is the author of “Coordinates of Yes.” Her work has appeared in Boulevard, Portland Review, Ekphrasis and Verse Daily, and has been adapted for dance and set to music at several venues. She is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and Bread Loaf Conference participant. Baugher is an editor and teacher and lives in Seattle.
Sarah Crossland will graduate from the University of Virginia this spring and will then teach the course “Inspiration, Muse, and Genesis in Creative Writing” for UVA’s Cavalier Education Program, drawing on her interdisciplinary degree in fiction, poetry and folklore. She is the co-editor-in-chief of UVA’s do-it-yourself, literary-arts magazine Glass, Garden and was an intern at the AGNI literary journal last summer.
Elisavietta Ritchie’s new book “Cormorant Beyond the Compost” was published in January. She has written 15 previous books and chapbooks including “Real Toads,” “Awaiting Permission to Land,” “The Spirit of the Walrus,” “Elegy for the Other Woman,” “Flying Time” and “The Arc of the Storm.” Ritchie edits and translates as well as teaching creative writing.
On Tuesday, April 19, Shakespeare will come alive as professional actors present scenes and sonnets by the Bard in the annual “Shakespeare’s Birthday” reading. The accomplished actors are from the George Washington University Academy of Classical Acting, directed by Gary Logan.
On Tuesday, May 24, for the theme “Away from Home,” poets will reflect on being away from home or familiar people and encountering new places and unfamiliar people. Anne Harding Woodworth, Jody Bolz and Tom Healy will share their work.
Anne Harding Woodworth's fourth book of poetry “The Artemis Sonnets, Etc.” will be published in October. She is the author of three other books of poetry, most recently her novella-in-verse “Spare Parts,” as well as two chapbooks. Having lived in Greece, she often incorporates into her work classical themes and the Greece of her experience. She is a member of the Poetry Board at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Jody Bolz is the author of “A Lesson in Narrative Time.” She studied with poet A.R. Ammons at Cornell University and taught for more than 20 years at George Washington University. Her poems and essays have appeared in The American Scholar, Crab Orchard Review, Indiana Review, Ploughshares and Southern Poetry Review. She has been the executive editor of Poet Lore since 1982.
Tom Healy’s first book of poetry “What the Right Hand Knows” was published in October 2009. Healy has also been published in many literary journals including the Paris Review, Yale Review, Tin House and others. He received his bachelor’s in philosophy from Harvard before earning his master’s of fine arts from Columbia University. He opened one of the first art galleries in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. He served on the White House Council on AIDS for President Bill Clinton. Healy currently teaches at Pratt Institute and sits on the boards of Poets House and Creative Time.
For further information about the Library’s poetry programs and the Poetry and Literature Center, home of the U.S. Poet Laureate, visit www.loc.gov/poetry/.
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PR11-15
1/24/11
ISSN: 0731-3527
