The Lives of Poems

GAMBIER, Ohio (April 10, 2006) U.S. Poet Laureate Emeritus and Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Strand will give a poetry reading in Kenyon College's Hill Theater at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 13, and will present a lecture and slide show titled "The Lives of the Poems: Mark Strand's Works on Canvas," in Olin Auditorium, at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 14.

Strand, who served as poet laureate in 1990-91, has published ten volumes of poems, including Blizzard of One, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. In addition to writing two books of prose and three children's books, Strand has translated the works of several poets from the original Spanish and edited anthologies of poetry. He has received dozens of fellowships, grants, and awards for his work, including three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation. "The Lives of the Poems," a series of canvases by Strand inspired by his poems, was first exhibited in East Hampton, New York, in 2005.

Strand's visit is sponsored by the Department of English, the Department of Art and Art History, and the Faculty Lectureships Committee, in collaboration with the Richard L. Thomas Chair Fund and the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. Both events are free and open to the public.