Poetry Day: Juan Felipe Herrera
The U.S. Poet Laureate reads at 61st annual Poetry Day
CHICAGO—The Poetry Foundation. the Library of Congress, and the Chicago Public Library are pleased to feature U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera at the 61st annual Poetry Day, one of the oldest and most distinguished reading series in the country. Inaugurated by Robert Frost in 1955, Poetry Day has presented such poets as T.S. Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, Carl Sandburg, W.H. Auden, Anne Sexton, John Ashbery, James Merrill, Adrienne Rich, Gwendolyn Brooks, Rita Dove, Billy Collins, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott and Robert Hass.
The son of migrant farm workers, Juan Felipe Herrera was educated at UCLA and Stanford University and earned his MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His numerous poetry collections include Border-Crosser with a Lamborghini Dream (1999), 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border: Undocuments 1971–2007, Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems (2008), and Notes on the Assemblage (2015). He was named California Poet Laureate in 2012 and U.S. Poet Laureate in 2015.
What: Poetry Day: Juan Felipe Herrera
When: Wednesday, October 7, 6 pm
Where: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
Harold Washington Library Center
400 South State Street
Tickets: Free admission. Doors open at 5 pm.
Co-sponsored with the Library of Congress and the Chicago Public Library
About the Poetry Foundation
The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative literary prizes and programs. For more information, please visit poetryfoundation.org.
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