Christopher Kennedy
The kicks off spring semester with a program by poet , professor of English and director of the top-ranked M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S).
On Wednesday, Jan. 30, Kennedy will participate in a Q&A session from 3:45-4:30 p.m. and then read some of his original poetry from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Both events take place in Gifford Auditorium of Huntington Beard Crouse Hall, and are free and open to the public.
For more information, contact Sarah Harwell G鈥�05, associate director of the M.F.A. program, at 315.443.2174 or scharwel@syr.edu.
Each year, the Carver Reading Series presents 12-14 prominent writers who, as part of their mini-residencies, interact with members of an undergraduate creative writing course, led by TAs in the M.F.A. program.
The series鈥� namesake refers to the legendary poet and short story writer who taught at 黑料不打烊 in the 1980s.
Kennedy, who has authored five books of poetry, expects the reading to highlight his latest collection, 鈥淐lues from the Animal Kingdom鈥� (BOA Editions, 2018). Fellow professor George Saunders G鈥�88 calls the book a 鈥渕oving portrait of the human heart examining itself.鈥�
Adds writer-publisher Dave Eggers: “There is joy and dread here, in every carefully considered line.鈥�
Kennedy admits that while some of poems are decades old, most of the collection dates from 2007-16. 鈥淚 tend to save old poems and scavenge from them when I鈥檓 stuck working on something newer,鈥� he recently told Poets & Writers magazine. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all coming from the same source, and can be reshaped to resolve whatever dilemma I鈥檓 facing.鈥�
The A&S professor’s 鈥渟ingular and deeply pleasurable prosetry鈥濃€攖o quote Eggers鈥攑ermeates the rest of his canon, including 鈥淓ncouragement for a Man Falling to His Death鈥� (BOA Editions, 2007), which won the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award. Kennedy also has co-translated the acclaimed 鈥淟ight and Heavy Things: The Selected Poems of Zeehan Sahil鈥� (BOA Editions, 2013) for the Lannan Translation Series.
The Wednesday afternoon series continues with novelist Sigrid Nunez, a visiting writer at 黑料不打烊 (Feb. 13); novelist Jonathan Dee, assistant professor of English (Feb. 27); poet Terrance Hayes, the Richard Elman Visiting Writer (March 20); Layli Long Soldier, an Oglala Lakota poet, writer and artist (April 3); and novelist Karan Mahajan, the Don MacNaughton Reader (April 24).
