Prize-Winning Writers to Read at University of Richmond's Tucker-Boatwright Literary Festival
September 19, 2001
Nikki Giovanni, one of the best-known contemporary African-American poets, will be the first of six prominent authors to read from their works at the University of Richmond during the 2001-02 Tucker-Boatwright Literary Festival. All events are free and open to the public.
Giovanni reads Sept. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Keller Hall. Nobel Prize-winning poet Derek Walcott was to have opened the festival, but his Sept. 12 reading was postponed to Oct. 18 in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. The location of Walcott's rescheduled reading is to be announced. For further information, contact the university's Department of English at 289-8288.
Poets Robert Hass and Joy Harjo, as well as novelists J.M. Coetzee and Paule Marshall, also will read from their works during the festival, which continues through Feb. 7.
For three decades, Giovanni has been a voice of racial pride and family connection. She has published more than 10 collections of poetry, including "The Women and the Men," "Those Who Ride the Night Winds" and "Blues: For All the Changes." She teaches at Virginia Tech.
A native of St. Lucia, Walcott was acclaimed by the Swedish Academy in 1992 as the "great poet" of West Indian culture. He has written more than 20 volumes of poetry, including "The Gulf," "Sea Grapes" and "Omeros."
Coetzee, a major South African literary figure, will read Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. in Keller Hall. He is author of seven novels, including "Waiting for the Barbarians," "The Life and Times of Michael K" and, most recently, "Disgrace." His non-fiction works include "White Writing: On the Culture of Letters in South Africa" and "Giving Offense: Essays on Censorship."
Hass, who will read Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Jepson Alumni Center, was poet laureate of the U.S. from 1995-97. His collections include "Field Guide," "Praise," "Human Wishes" and "Sun Under Wood." He received both the Yale Younger Poets Award and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. He has won the Book Critics Circle Award twice.
Harjo, also a saxophonist with her jazz band, Joy Harjo and Poetic Justice, will read Jan. 21 at 7:3 p.m. in Keller Hall. Besides poetry collections, she has written essays, fiction and screenplays. Her 1990 poetry collection, "In Mad Love and War," won the American Book Award, Poetry Society of America Award and William Carlos Williams Award.
Marshall will read Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Keller Hall. She is author of short story collections and the acclaimed novels "Brown Girl, Brownstones," "Praisesong for the Widow," "Daughters" and "The Fisher King," which won the 2001 Award for Best Fiction from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.