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TITLE: Poetry Reading by Robert Bly and Coleman Barks
SPEAKER: Robert Bly, Coleman Barks
EVENT DATE: 05/17/2007
RUNNING TIME: 81 minutes
DESCRIPTION:
Poets Robert Bly and Coleman Bark read selections of their work in a program sponsored by the Poetry and Literature Center.
Speaker Biography: Robert Bly attended Harvard University and received his master's degree from the University of Iowa in 1956. He is the author of more than 30 books of poetry, including "The Night Abraham Called to the Stars" (HarperCollins, 2001); "Snowbanks North of the House" (1999); "What Have I Ever Lost by Dying?: Collected Prose Poems" (1992); "Loving a Woman in Two Worlds" (1987); "Mirabai Versions" (1984); "This Body is Made of Camphor and Gopherwood" (1977); and "The Light Around the Body" (1967), which won the National Book Award. As the editor of the magazine The Sixties (begun as The Fifties), Bly introduced many unknown European and South American poets to an American audience. He is also the editor of numerous collections including "The Soul Is Here for Its Own Joy: Sacred Poems from Many Cultures" (Ecco Press, 1995); "Leaping Poetry" (1975); "The Rag and Bon Shop of the Heart: Poems for Men" (1992); "News of the Universe" (1980); and "A Poetry Reading Against the Vietnam War" (1967). Among his many books of translations are "Lorca and Jiminez: Selected Poems" (Beacon Press, 1997); "Machado's Times Alone: Selected Poems" (1983); "The Kabir Book" (1977); "Friends, You Drank Some Darkness: Three Swedish Poets---Martinson, Ekeloef, and Transtromer" (1975); and "Neruda and Vallejo: Selected Poems"(1971). Bly is also the author of a number of nonfiction books, including "The Sibling Society" (Addison-Wesley, 1996); "The Spirit Boy and the Insatiable Soul" (1994); "Iron John: A Book about Men" (1990); and "Talking All Morning: Collected Conversations and Interviews" (1980). HIs honors include Guggenheim, Rockefeller and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships.
Speaker Biography: Coleman Barks was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tenn., and was educated at the University of North Carolina and the University of California at Berkeley. He taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Georgia for 30 years. He is the author of numerous Rumi translations and has been a student of Sufism since 1977. His work with Rumi was the subject of an hour-long segment in Bill Moyers's Language of Life series on PBS, and he is a featured poet and translator in Moyers's poetry special, "Fooling with Words."