Release date: Feb. 29, 2008

Finest U.S. Poets to Gather at Emory

Richard Wilbur, Mark Strand, W.D. Snodgrass, Others to Give Public Readings

Contact:Lea McLees, 404-727-0211, lmclees@emory.edu
Contact: Elaine Justice, 404-727-0643, elaine.justice@emory.edu

Some of the country's most celebrated poets, including two former U.S. poet laureates, will gather at Emory University April 2-4 for "A Fine Excess: A Three-Day Celebration of Poetry."

Distinguished American poets Richard Wilbur, Mark Strand and W.D. Snodgrass will give public readings, along with 10 additional poets, including the 2005 and 2006 winners of the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize, Morri Creech and Erica Dawson. The Hecht Prize, named for the late Pulitzer Prize winner, is awarded each year to recognize the best first or second collection of poems. Dana Gioia, poet and chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, will open the celebration.

"It was John Keats who wrote that poetry should please by a fine excess, a message that Emory has taken to heart in organizing this rich program," says Steve Enniss, director of Emory's Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library. Enniss is co-organizer of the program with Philip Hoy, publisher of The Waywiser Press.

Two Poetry Exhibitions

In addition to more than 10 readings over the three days, the celebration will include public conversations with Richard Wilbur, Mark Strand and W.D. Snodgrass, and two exhibitions that highlight Emory University's extensive poetry collections.

"Democratic Vistas: Exploring the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library" is curated by Emory faculty member and poet Kevin Young, Atticus Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing, and draws on the 75,000-volume Danowski Collection of English language poetry, donated to Emory in 2003. The exhibition, accompanied by a published catalog, includes rare editions of some of the 20th century's most important works of poetry, ranging from W.H. Auden to Louis Zukofsky.

A companion exhibition, curated by Jennifer Brady, titled "Visions and Revisions: An Exhibition of Poems in Process," traces the creative process through 16 sets of manuscript drafts, including the worksheets of Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath and Emory Pulitzer Prize winning poet Natasha Trethewey.

Other poets participating in the celebration include: Jeff Harrison, Joseph Harrison, J.D. McClatchy, Eric McHenry, Mary Jo Salter, Deborah Warren, Clive Watkins and Greg Williamson. More information and registration materials are available online.

"A Fine Excess" is sponsored by the Emory Libraries; The Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library; Emory’s Creativity and the Arts Initiative; the Hightower Fund; Emory's Creative Writing Program and Humanities Council; with additional support from The Waywiser Press; and the National Endowment for the Arts. The three-day celebration is free and open to the public.

The Emory University Libraries (http://web.library.emory.edu/) in Atlanta and Oxford, Ga., are dedicated to fostering courageous inquiry among students and scholars at Emory and around the world. The nine libraries' holdings include more than 3.1 million print and electronic volumes, 40,000-plus electronic journals, and internationally renowned special collections.

Emory University (www.emory.edu) is one of the nation’s leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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