Berlin Bombed With Poetry
August 29th, 2010
The Chilean art collective, Casagrande, dropped 100,000 bookmarks printed with poems from a helicopter over Berlin on September 28, 2010. The poems were by 80 poets from Chile and Germany, and the poetry bombing was meant as an action to protest war and support peace. It was the fifth poetry bomb project: Santiago de Chile (2001), Dubrovnik (2002), Gernika (2004) and Warsaw (2009).
George Hitchcock Dies
August 28th, 2010
George Hitchcock, a poet, painter and University of California, Santa Cruz, emeritus professor died yesterday at his home in Eugene, OR. Hitchcock founded the literary magazine kayak in 1964 and published such writers as Robert Bly, Raymond Carver and Philip Levine. Hitchcock was 96.
Ludvik Kundera Dies
August 18th, 2010
Poet and translator Ludvik Kundera has died at the age of 90. Kundera, a cousin of Paris-based author Milan Kundera, died Tuesday. He was a co-founder of the surrealistic group Ra after the WWII. His first book of poetry, Konstantina, was published in 1946. Kundera became a respected translator of German-speaking authors, including Rainer Maria Rilke, Hans Arp and Bertolt Brecht.
Peter Campion Wins Levis Reading Prize
July 26th, 2010
Peter Campion’s The Lions (Chicago) won the 13th annual Levis Reading Prize from Virginia Commonwealth University for the best first or second book of poetry published in 2009. Campion will receive the award at a literary conference honoring the late poet Larry Levis – the namesake of the Levis Prize – on Sept. 22-24 at VCU. Campion, an assistant professor at Auburn University, is also the author of Other People (Chicago, 2005).
W.S. Merwin Name U.S. Poet Laureate
July 2nd, 2010
The Library of Congress announced that W.S. Merwin will follow Kay Ryan as the 17th Poet Laureate of the United States. The post comes with an annual salary of $35,000. Merwin is the author of seventeen books, and the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes and a National Book Award.
Dick Allen Named CT Poet Laureate
June 18th, 2010
The Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism has announced that Dick Allen of Trumbull, CT, is Connecticut's new Poet Laureate. Allen will serve a five year term from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2015. He succeeds Poet Laureate John Hollander. Previous CT Poet Laureates include Marilyn Nelson, Leo Connellan and James Merrill. Allen has appeared in several issues of Smartish Pace and you can hear him read all of his SP poems, along with photographs of him and his home, in the media section of this website.
Smartish Pace on Poetry Daily
June 14th, 2010
"Twin Tree" by Carol Muske-Dukes, a poem that appears in Smartish Pace Issue 17, is featured today at Poetry Daily. Thank you to the good folks at Poetry Daily!
Wimbledon Appoints Championships Poet
May 19th, 2010
The Wimbledon tennis championship has appointed Matt Harvey as Championships Poet 2010. Harvey is the first such poet and will post new poems each day about the tennis action throughout the tennis tournament. The position was created as a result of Wimbleton teaming up with The Poetry Trust. Harvey's poems can be found here and here.
Nikki Giovanni Bequeaths Copyrights to VA Tech
May 17th, 2010
Virginia Tech professor and poet Nikki Giovanni announced that she will confer copyright to all her works to Virginia Tech upon her death, making the university the trustee of her estate. Giovanni has written 30 books already. The copyrights will be managed by the English Department. Money from the bequest will be earmarked for a special fund called "The Answer is Yes," which will be used to fund programs for English students.
Pinsky & Springsteen Perform Together
May 6th, 2010
Robert Pinsky and Bruce Springsteen performed together at Fairleigh Dickinson University to a crowd of 400 students, where they also discussed their work, influences and careers and joked about the fact both were born at Monmouth Memorial Hospital, albeit nine years apart (Pinsky is older). The occasion was the university's WAMFEST Words and Music Festival. "What I've been trying to write about for 40 years, Robert gets into a single poem," Springsteen said.
A 400 person venue for this event? Nice planning FDU.
