Pulitzer Prize-winning poet to speak at Purdue
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey will read from her latest book, "Beyond Katrina," at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 27 in Stewart Center's Fowler Hall as part of the Visiting Writers Reading Series.
She will also answer questions about her work at 10 a.m. on Oct. 28 in Rawls Hall, Room 2082. Both events are free and open to the public.
Trethewey is the author of three books of poetry: "Bellocqs Ophelia," "Domestic Work" and the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Native Guard."
"Beyond Katrina" is her first book of non-fiction. It combines essays, poems, photographs and personal letters to show how environmental history - from the destruction of wastelands to Katrina itself - impacted and still impacts the social history of Gulfport, Miss., particularly for African Americans, and how the aftermath of Katrina has affected Trethewey's own life. The book entwines the stories of the town ravaged by a hurricane with her family's stories, including her brother's incarceration after falling into financial trouble.
Trethewey is the Phyllis Wheatley Distinguished Chair in Poetry at Emory University, and her work has been awarded the Cave Canem inaugural poetry prize, and has been a finalist for both the Lenore Marshall and James Laughlin Awards. She has been a recipient of awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. Her fifth book, "Thrall," is forthcoming in the fall of 2012.
Trethewey's visit is sponsored by the Creative Writing Program, the Department of English, the African American Studies Program, the Black Cultural Center and the College of Liberal Arts.
The next 2011-2012 Visiting Writers Reading Series author is National Book Award finalist Dorothy Allison. She will read at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 10 in Fowler Hall. More information is available at http://www.sycamorereview.com/reading-series/
Sources: Lindsey Alexander, visiting writers series coordinator, alexanl@purdue.edu, 502-836-1719
Porter Shreve, director of the creative writing program, pshreve@purdue.edu