October 30, 2008

Literary Reading Series features poet in November

Van Jordan will present a poetry reading at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 in the Hicks Undergraduate Library Bookstall, and he also will give a talk at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 14 in the same location. Both events, which are free and open to the public, are sponsored by the African American Studies and Research Center, American Studies program, Diversity Action Committee, Department of English and the Creative Writing program.

Jordan is the author of the poetry collections "Rise," "M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A" and "Quantum Lyrics." His first collection, "Rise," won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award and was a selection for the Book of the Month Club from the Academy of American Poets. "M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A" was awarded an Anisfield-Wolf Award and chosen as one of the Best Books of 2005 by the London Times. It is a cycle of poems based on the life of MacNolia Cox, the first black finalist in the National Spelling Bee. "Quantum Lyrics," a collection inspired by the work of physicists including Albert Einstein, was published in July 2007 by W.W. Norton.

Jordan is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. He currently teaches at the University of Texas at Austin.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Daniel Tyx, Literary Reading Series coordinator, (765) 742-6030, dtyx@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: Journalists interested in an interview with A. Van Jordan can contact Daniel Tyx, Literary Reading Series coordinator, at (765) 742-6030, dtyx@purdue.edu

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