-
Nikky Finney’s National Book Award Acceptance Speech (2011)
A colleague shared the video below with me many moons ago, thinking (rightly) that I might appreciate it. I decided to post it but apparently got interrupted, and lingered in my “drafts” folder until today. I remembered it today when I ran across a video of a reporter at an NRA rally in the South interviewing a gray-haired old fellow wearing a confederate flag tee shirt. The reporter remarked that some people viewed that flag as a racist symbol.Read More
-
The Undeniable Genius of John Williams: Stoner and the Man Who Wrote the Perfect Novel
This celebration, on the 55th anniversary of the publication of John Williams’s novel Stoner, honors the novelist and his masterpiece with a day of sessions at DU (lunch break on your own) followed by an optional dinner and program. John Williams’ son, Jonathan, will attend this event. Register Here SPEAKERS AND THEIR TOPICS William Zaranka, PhD — Observations on Williams as a Teacher and Novelist. Joe Nigg, PhD — My Mentor: Williams’ Lessons on the Life of a Writer. Anne Marie Candido, organizer of the Williams special collection at the University of Arkansas — Williams’ Archives: The Final Legacy.Read More
-
Forgetting Nemerov
Reginald Shepherd, in his latest blog post on Harriet, remarks (correctly, sad to say) that Howard Nemerov “is almost forgotten today.” Not by everyone, though. I remember hearing him read on the University of Denver campus in the early 1980s, I believe—an occasion that made me realize that a poet’s writing voice and physical voice could be essentially the same. I mean that poems which had seemed to be “verse” on the page emerged from Nemerov’s living mouth as “speech,” an almost-everyday kind of talk.Read More
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
