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THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 6:00 PM Art Beyond Borders: Eamon Grennan Fullerton Hall Art Institute of Chicago 111 South Michigan Avenue Free admission Eamon Grennan was born in Dublin in 1941 and educated at University College Dublin and Harvard. He has published over ten volumes of poetry, translation, and essays, most recently Matter of Fact. Grennan has taught since 1974 at Vassar College where he is the Dexter M. Ferry Jr. Professor of English. Co-sponsored with the Art Institute of Chicago THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 6:00 PM Art Beyond Borders: Robert Pinsky Fullerton Hall Art Institute of Chicago 111 South Michigan Avenue Free admission Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky is the author of numerous prize-winning collections, including Gulf Music, and the bestselling translation, The Inferno of Dante. As Poet Laureate he launched the Favorite Poem Project and made regular appearances on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Co-sponsored with the Art Institute of Chicago THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12,1:30-2:45 PM Not the Usual Suspects: Poets Reading for Poetry Magazine Associated Writers and Writing Programs Conference Chicago Hilton, International Ballroom North Featuring poets: A. E. Stallings, Craig Arnold, Ange Mlinko, and Jacob Saenz; moderated by Poetry's Senior Editor, Don Share. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 12:00 PM Found in Translation: Tomaz Salamun Fullerton Hall Art Institute of Chicago 111 South Michigan Avenue Free admission Renowned Slovenian poet Tomaz Salamun reads selections from his more than thirty books of poetry. Co-sponsored with the Art Institute of Chicago and the International Writers Program at the University of Iowa. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 8:30 PM Poetry Off the Shelf: Heather McHugh & August Kleinzahler Continental Ballroom Chicago Hilton 720 South Michigan Avenue Free admission Heather McHugh is Milliman Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at the University of Washington in Seattle. She is the author of seven collections of poetry—most recently Eyeshot—a volume of literary essays, and several books of translation. She has received numerous chairs, lectureships, honorary titles, and distinguished awards from around the country. August Kleinzahler writes about music for Slate and other magazines. His most recent collections of poetry are The Strange Hours Travelers Keep and Sleeping It Off in Rapid City: Poems, New and Selected, both from Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Among his many honors are the International Griffin Poetry Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Co-sponsored with the Associated Writers and Writing Programs MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 7:30 PM Poetry on Stage My Nose and Me: A TragedyLite or TragiDelight in 33 Scenes Monday, 16 February 7:30 pm Chicago Shakespeare Theater Admission is free, but reservations are recommended. Please call 312.595.5600 or visit www.chicagoshakes.com/nose My Nose and Me: A TragedyLite or TragiDelight by John Surowiecki is the inaugural winner of the Poetry Foundation's Verse Drama Prize. It makes its Chicago debut here, under the direction of Bernard Sahlins. John Surowiecki is the author of Watching Cartoons before Attending a Funeral, The Hat City after Men Stopped Wearing Hats, and five chapbooks. He won Nimrod's Pablo Neruda Prize and has received fellowships from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. He makes his home in Connecticut, where he is a freelance writer and teaches poetry courses at Manchester Community College. Bernard Sahlins co-founded the Second City Theater and the International Theatre Festival of Chicago. He has produced and directed shows in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, London, and Toronto. His memoir, Days and Nights at the Second City, appeared from Ivan R. Dee in 2002. SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1:00 PM Poetry Off the Shelf: Rita Dove Saturday, 25 April 1 pm Cindy Pritzker Auditorium Harold Washington Library Center 400 South State Street Free admission Rita Dove served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1993 to 1995, the youngest person to hold the title and the first African-American. Dove's lyrical and accessible poetry reflects the author's interest in music and drama, as well as her commitment to social justice and her sensitivity to women's issues. Among her many honors are the Pulitzer Prize in poetry, the Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanities, the National Humanities Medal, and the 2006 Common Wealth Award. Among her many collections are Thomas and Beulah (1986), Mother Love (1995), On the Bus with Rosa Parks (1999), and American Smooth (2004). She has a new book due out in April, 2009. Dove is Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia, where she has been teaching since 1989. She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2006. Co-sponsored with the Chicago Public Library THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 6:00 PM Art Beyond Borders: Philip Levine Thursday, 30 April 6 pm Fullerton Hall Art Institute of Chicago 111 South Michigan Avenue Free admission Philip Levine was born in Detroit to Russian Jewish immigrants. Working in factories while earning his degrees, Levine formed a close connection with the working class, which strongly influenced his poetry. He is the author of sixteen volumes of poetry, including his most recent, Breath (2004). He received the Pulitzer Prize for his 1994 collection The Simple Truth. His many other honors include the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Harriet Monroe Memorial Prize from Poetry, the Frank O'Hara Prize, and two Guggenheim Foundation fellowships. For two years he served as chair of the Literature Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts, and he was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2000. He lives in New York City and Fresno, California, and teaches at New York University. Co-sponsored with the Art Institute of Chicago THURSDAY, MAY 28, 6:00 PM Art Beyond Borders: Ilya Kaminsky Thursday, 28 May 6 pm Fullerton Hall Art Institute of Chicago 111 South Michigan Avenue Free admission Ilya Kaminsky was born in 1977 in Odessa, formerly the Soviet Union, now Ukraine. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, his family was forced to seek political asylum in the United States. Kaminsky is the author of Dancing In Odessa (Tupelo Press, 2004), which won the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Metcalf Award and the Dorset Prize. In late 1990s, he co-founded Poets for Peace, an organization that sponsors poetry readings in the United States and abroad in support of such relief organizations as Doctors Without Borders and Survivors International. He is also the poetry editor of Words Without Borders, an online magazine featuring international literature in translation. He now teaches writing at San Diego State University. Past Events 12.12.08: Poetry Presents a Theatrical Interpretation of Five Poems by Dana Levin 11.20.08: Art Beyond Borders: Paul Muldoon 11.19.08: Poetry and contratiempo Present a Bilingual Reading 11.02.08: Poetry Off the Shelf: Mark Doty & Achy Obejas: Queer Lyrics 11.01.08: Poetry on Stage: Silk Road Theatre Project Presents Gilgamesh 11.01.08: Poetry Off the Shelf: Anne Carson: Cassandra Floatcan 10.21.08: 54th Annual Poetry Day: Louise Glück 10.09.08: Art Beyond Borders: Adam Zagajewski 09.27.08: Art Beyond Borders: C.K. Williams & Marilyn Nelson 09.23.08: Poetry Off the Shelf: Simon Armitage & Robin Robertson 09.22.08: Rise Up and Hear: An Evening of Poetry Honoring Abraham Lincoln's Legacy 09.21.08: Children's Poet Laureate Reading: Jack Prelutsky 09.11.08: Poetry Off the Shelf: Peter Gizzi 07.01.08: Rush Hour Concert Series and the Poetry Foundation Present: Impromptu Interplay: Jazz Improvisations on Poetry 05.29.08: Poetry Magazine Presents: Two NYC Independent Bookstore Readings 05.28.08: Poetry Magazine Presents: Two NYC Independent Bookstore Readings 05.15.08: American Perspectives: Edward Hirsch 05.01.08: American Perspectives: Frank Bidart 04.26.08: Poetry Off the Shelf: Charles Simic 04.24.08: American Perspectives: Four Saints in Three Acts 04.16.08: Poetry Off the Shelf: Lorna Dee Cervantes and Rigoberto González 04.05.08: Chicago KIDS' Poetry Day 04.02.08: Mary Oliver 04.01.08: CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN POETRY: AN ANTHOLOGY 03.13.08: American Perspectives: Peter Sacks on Edward Hopper 01.24.08: American Perspectives: Four Notable Latino Poets 01.10.08: Poetry Off the Shelf: Kwame Dawes 12.28.07: Poetry Marathon 12.13.07: American Perspectives: Langdon Hammer On Poet Hart Crane 12.06.07: Poetry at the Pulitzer: Water 11.18.07: A theatrical interpretation of Frank Bidart's The Third Hour of the Night 11.17.07: A theatrical interpretation of Frank Bidart's The Third Hour of the Night 11.16.07: A theatrical interpretation of Frank Bidart's The Third Hour of the Night 11.14.07: 53rd Annual Poetry Day: Eavan Boland 11.09.07: American Perspectives: Marjorie Perloff 11.08.07: Make It News: A Symposium on Poetry and Journalism 11.04.07: Poetry On Stage: The Waste Land 11.03.07: Poetry Off the Shelf: Diane Ackerman 11.03.07: Poetry Off the Shelf: W.S. Merwin 11.03.07: Poetry Off the Shelf: Writing Nature Panel 10.24.07: American Perspectives: A Cave Canem Reading Featuring Frank Walker, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Parneshia Jones, and Kelly Norman Ellis 10.24.07: Kwame Dawes, Mary Karr, Yusef Komunyakaa, Patricia Smith, and Rachel Zucker 10.18.07: American Perspectives: Helen Vendler 10.14.07: Poetry Off the Shelf: A.E. Stallings 10.12.07: Poetry Off the Shelf: Reginald Gibbons, Mary Kinzie, and Adam Zagajewski 09.15.07: American Perspectives: Edward Hirsch 07.31.07: Inventions on Inventions 07.20.07: Printers' Ball 06.10.07: Pimone Triplett & Andrew Feld 06.06.07: Donald Hall & Andrew Motion 05.30.07: Robert Bly 05.07.07: Donald Hall and Andrew Motion 05.10.07: Donald Hall and Andrew Motion 04.18.07: Victor Hernández Cruz 04.10.07: Jack Prelutsky 04.04.07: Tony Hoagland and Dean Young 03.15.07: Poetry Off the Shelf: Martín Espada 02.08.07: Kim Addonizio 01.16.07: Kevin Young 11.19.06: Tartuffe 11.18.06: Tartuffe 11.17.06: Tartuffe 11.05.06: Poetry Off the Shelf: Gary Snyder 11.05.06: Poems of Peace & War 11.04.06: Poetry on Stage: Aurea 10.17.06: Poetry Day: Robert Hass 09.29.06: Mark Strand 09.16.06: Patricia Barber 09.07.06: Poetry Off the Shelf: David Lehman 06.12.06: Another Damn Benefit 06.04.06: Poetry, performance, and music by Aurea 05.16.06: Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest Finals 04.19.06: Poetry Out Loud Illinois State Finals 04.27.06: Poetry Off the Shelf: Adam Zagajewski and Clare Cavanagh 04.05.06: Poetry Out Loud Springfield Finals 04.04.06: Poetry Out Loud Chicago Finals 11.16.05: Poetry Day: Derek Walcott 11.13.05: John Hollander: What You Mean by Home 11.13.05: Poetry on Stage: 10 Brecht Poems 11.12.05: Poetry on Stage: 10 Brecht Poems 11.11.05: Poetry on Stage: 10 Brecht Poems 11.10.05: Poetry on Stage: 10 Brecht Poems 11.05.05: Edward Hirsch: Roots and Wings 11.05.05: Poetry Off the Shelf: Lawrence Joseph & Stuart Dybek 11.05.05: Panel: A Home for Poetry 11.03.05: Poetry Off the Shelf: Kay Ryan 10.17.05: Poetry Off the Shelf: Billy Collins 09.20.05: Poetry on Stage: The Burial at Thebes 09.19.05: Poetry on Stage: The Burial at Thebes 09.18.05: Poetry on Stage: The Burial at Thebes 14.19.05: Poetry Off the Shelf: Kevin Young 04.11.05: National Poetry Recitation Contest Chicago Finals 04.08.05: Poetry on Stage: T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral 04.07.05: Poetry on Stage: T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral 04.06.05: Poetry on Stage: T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral 04.05.05: Poetry on Stage: T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral 04.04.05: Poetry on Stage: T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral 04.04.05: Poetry in the Public Forum: Dana Gioia

UPCOMING READINGS

December 29, 2008 : New York, NY
Taylor Mead. Bowery Poetry Club
Octogenarian Mead (A Simple Country Girl), a performer the Village Voice once called “the first underground movie star,” gives his weekly Friday night show.

January 1, 2009 : New York, NY
New Year’s Day Marathon Reading. The Poetry Project
The 35th anniversary of this reading kicks off at 2:00 p.m. and features Anselm Berrigan, Franklin Bruno, Mónica de la Torre, John Giorno, Eileen Myles, Patti Smith, Anne Waldman, and dozens of others.

January 3, 2009 : Chestnut Hill, MA
Meg Kearney and Laura Williams McCaffrey. Pine Manor College
Poet Kearney (The Secret of Me) reads with young adult novelist McCaffrey (Water Shaper) for this week-long series sponsored by the Solstice Low-Residency MFA program, which Kearney directs.

January 5, 2009 : New York, NY
CAConrad, Brenda Iijima, Tim Peterson, and others. The Poetry Project
Conrad (Deviant Propulsion), Iijima (Subsistence Equipment), Peterson (Since I Moved In), and others read for the launch of the poetics journal On: Contemporary Practice, featuring essays by twenty-one poets on their contemporaries.

January 7, 2009 : San Francisco, CA
C. D. Wright. City Arts & Lectures
Former Rhode Island poet laureate and MacArthur fellow Wright (Rising, Falling, Hovering) reads at the Herbst Theater.

January 7, 2009 : Chestnut Hill, MA
Terrance Hayes and Naomi Shihab Nye. Pine Manor College
Poet and painter Hayes (Wind in a Box) reads with poet and novelist Nye (Honeybee) as part of the Solstice MFA January Reading Series.

January 7, 2009 : Seattle, WA
Kristen Loree and Jack Ox. Subtext Reading Series
Loree performs Kurt Schwitters’ Ursonate while segments of Ox’s eight-by-one-hundred-foot painting (also an interpretation of Ursonate) are projected on the wall.

January 8, 2009 : St. Louis, MO
Patrick Rosal and Quincy Troupe. Observable Reading Series
Black Renaissance Noire magazine editor Troupe (The Architecture of Language) reads with Rosal (My American Kundiman) at Schlafly Bottleworks.

January 9, 2009 : Minneapolis, MN
Dobby Gibson. Open Book
Rain Taxi and Graywolf Press host a launch party for Gibson’s second collection, Skirmish. Each book purchase includes a personalized fortune from Gibson, after the collection’s series of poems titled “Fortune.”

January 9, 2009 : Pittsburgh, PA
Paula Bohince and Horacio Castellanos Moya. Grub Street Reading Series
Pennsylvania residents Bohince (Incident at the Edge of Bayonet Woods) and Moya (Senselessness, his first book translated into English) read for this recently renewed series at a sculptor’s studio.

January 11, 2009 : Los Angeles, CA
Geoffrey G. O’Brien. Poetry at the Ruskin
UC-Berkeley professor O’Brien (Green and Gray) reads for this Red Hen Press series held at the home of L.A.’s oldest cultural association.

January 11, 2009 : Portland, OR
Endi Hartigan and Maryrose Larkin. Spare Room
Spectaculum editor Hartigan (One Sun Storm) reads with FLASH+CARD postcard press editor Larkin (The Book of Ocean) at Concordia Coffee House.

January 12, 2009 : Seattle, WA
Bruce Beasley and Deborah Poe. Richard Hugo House
Western Washington University professor Beasley (The Corpse Flower) and alumna Poe (Our Parenthetical Ontology) read for the Spontaneously Luminous Series, which provides venues for writers to perform their work from coast to coast.

January 13, 2009 : San Francisco, CA
Alan Kaufman and Clara Hsu. Books & Bookshelves
Kaufman, editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, reads with Clarion Music Center president and poet Hsu (Mystique).

January 13, 2009 : Seattle, WA
Jenny Browne and Matthew Dickman. Open Books
Browne (The Second Reason) and Dickman (All-American Poem) travel from Texas and Oregon, respectively, to read at this all-poetry bookstore.

January 14, 2009 : Cleveland Heights, OH
John “Jesus Crisis” Burroughs, Mike Goldstein, C. Allen Rearick, and Jason Williams. Mac’s Backs
Cleveland poetry blogger Burroughs (Bloggerel), poetic patterer Goldstein, Guerrilla Poetics Projects member Rearick (Through These Eyes), and Williams (Inheritance Tax) read at this used bookstore.

January 15, 2009 : Point Arena, CA
Maureen Eppstein. Point Arena Poetry Series
New Zealand native and Mendocino Coast Writers Conference organizer Eppstein (Quickening) reads at the Old City Art Building for this monthly series.

January 16, 2009 : Brooklyn, NY
Akilah Oliver, Sandra María Esteves, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, and others. Mama Africa: A Tribute to Miriam Makeba
Poets and musicians from the African diaspora—including Oliver (A Toast in the House of Friends), Esteves (Bluestown Mockingbird Mambo), and Diggs (Check the Rhyme)—read at BAM Café to memorialize South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba.

January 16-18, 2009 : Chicago, IL
Dolores Dorantes, Jen Hofer, Jennifer Karmin, and others. When Does It Or You Begin? (Memory as Innovation)
The second week of this month-long festival focuses on collaboration and features Dorantes with her translator Hofer (sexoPUROsexoVELOZ and Septiembre: A Bilingual Edition), as well as Karmin with seven Chicago poets.

January 17, 2009 : San Francisco, CA
Erika Staiti, Suzanne Stein, and Dodie Bellamy. Canessa Reading Series
Erica Lewis hosts a reading on the theme of influence (to wit: “Do you blame your elementary English teacher or that old Beat you met at City Lights?”) featuring Staiti, Stein (Signs of Life), and Bellamy (Barf Manifesto).

January 18, 2009 : Pomona, CA
Michelle Bitting. dA Center for the Arts
Bitting reads from her first book, Good Friday Kiss, at this Pomona Arts Colony community center; an open mic follows.

January 19, 2009 : St. Louis, MO
Oliver de la Paz and Virginia Slachman. River Styx at Duff’s Reading Series
De la Paz (Furious Lullaby) and Slachman (Heidegger’s Temple) read at Duff’s Restaurant for this series hosted by River Styx, a multicultural journal of poetry, prose, and art.

January 20, 2009 : St. Petersburg, FL
Scott Ward and Tom Perrotta. Writers in Paradise
Poet Ward (Wayward Passages) and fiction writer Perrotta (The Abstinence Teacher) give a public reading for this fiction, poetry, and nonfiction conference at Eckerd College.

January 21, 2009 : Los Angeles, CA
EMBERS: a jazz opera in poems. ALOUD LA
Actors and a jazz quartet perform an opera featuring a woman boxer and a bad-mannered angel, based on a novel-in-verse by Terry Wolverton, at the L.A. Central Library.

January 22, 2009 : Berkeley, CA
Sharon Doubiago and Judith Roche. Poetry Flash at Moe’s Books
Poet and short story writer Doubiago (Love on the Streets: Selected and New Poems) reads with Roche (Wisdom of the Body), who won an American Book Award for her anthology of poems and folk tales about salmon.

January 23, 2009 : La Jolla, CA
Niloufar Talebi. National University
London-born, American-educated writer Talebi reads from her new anthology, Belonging: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World, and screens footage from her short films based on contemporary Iranian poetry.

January 24, 2008 : Palm Beach, CA
Denise Duhamel, Kimiko Hahn, Gerald Stern, and others. Palm Beach Poetry Festival
Duhamel, Hahn, and Stern participate in the afternoon panel “Beloved & Influential Poems” alongside Thomas Lux, Laura Kasischke, Martín Espada, and others. The same night, Hahn and Stern give a festival finale reading.

January 25, 2009 : New York, NY
Nancy Pearson. Bowery Poetry Club
Runner, cyclist, and poet Pearson reads from her first book, Two Minutes of Light, for a series sponsored by Four Way Books.

January 26, 2009 : New York, NY
Charles Bernstein, Shanxing Wang, and Christopher Stackhouse. Triptych Readings
Bernstein (Girly Man), Wang (Mad Science in Imperial City), and Stackhouse (Seismosis) are featured in the inaugural reading of the Triptych series at the 11th Street Bar.