August 25, 1993

Press Contact: John Sullivan (202) 707-9216
Public Contact: (202) 707-5394/5

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Library of Congress Announces Poetry & Literature Center Fall 1993 Reading Series

The Poetry and Literature Center's fall 1993 season of public literary programs, which begins October 7 with a reading by new Poet Laureate Rita Dove, will feature four poetry readings, a short-story reading, and a reading by the winner of Mobil Corporation's 1992 Pegasus Prize for Literature. All of the programs, with the exception of Ms. Dove's reading, are presented under the auspices of the Library's Gertrude Clarke Whittall Poetry and Literature Fund, and scheduled for Thursday evenings. Tickets are not required.

On October 7, at 6:45 p.m., Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry Rita Dove will open the season with a reading of her work in the Mumford Room, sixth floor, Madison Building. Ms. Dove, who received the Pulitzer Prize for her 1986 collection, Thomas & Beulah, has written a novel, a collection of short stories, and three additional volumes of poetry, The Yellow House on the Corner, Museum, and Grace Notes. Ms. Dove plans to participate actively in the Library's literary programs; she will be working very closely with Library staff to ensure a varied and interesting 1993-94 literary season.

The second program in the fall lineup will be readings by poets Susan Ludvigson and Michael McFee on October 14. Ms. Ludvigson, Professor of English and Poet in Residence at Winthrop University, represented the United States at the First International Women Writers' Congress in Paris; this fall, she will participate in a congress of poets in Cyprus. Her collections of poetry include The Beautiful Moon of No Shadow, To Find the Gold, and Everything Winged Must Be Dreaming. Mr. McFee, author of Vanishing Acts, Sad Girl Sitting on a Running Board, and To See, teaches poetry writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ingram-Merrill Foundation and a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council. The program will be at 6:45 p.m. in the Montpelier Room, sixth floor, Madison Building.

On October 21, at 8:00 p.m., Slovak author Martin Simecka will read from his Pegasus Prize-winning novel, The Year of the Frog, in a special program co-sponsored with Mobil Corporation, which awards the Pegasus Prize to distinguished works from countries whose literature is rarely translated into English. The reading will take place in the Mumford Room. The prize includes translation into English and subsequent publication by Louisiana State University Press. Mr. Simecka's novel first appeared in Czechoslovak underground samizdat as a series of three novellas during the 1980s and was later republished in one volume. A political activist and commentator, Mr. Simecka was an advocate of continued Czech and Slovak union even as the two nations were moving toward their split, finalized on January 1, 1993. Mr. Simecka will read from his novel in its original Slovak; actor Teman Treadway will read from the English translation. Mr. Treadway, who first appeared in the Library of Congress literary series in 1991, when he read from Jia Pingwa's novel Turbulence, winner of the 1988 Pegasus Prize, is a graduate of Dartmouth College. He has appeared in many theatrical productions and on many network television programs.

On November 4, in the annual Syndicated Fiction Award Winners' reading, Rick Bass, Joshua Henkin, and Rosa Shand will read their award-winning stories. They are three of the 1992 Annual Best Syndicated Fiction Award winners, judged by author Herbert Gold. The reading, co-sponsored with the Syndicated Fiction Project, will be in the Mumford Room at 6:45 p.m.

Poets Toi Derricotte and Marie Howe will read from their work on December 2 in the Mumford Room at 6:45 p.m.

Toi Derricotte is the author of Captivity, The Empress of the Death House, and Natural Birth. A recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Pushcart Prize, and the Folger Shakespeare Library Poetry Book Award, Ms. Derricotte is on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh. Marie Howe is the author The Good Thief, which was chosen by writer Margaret Atwood and published as one of the National Poetry Series winners in 1987. She is now at work on a new collection, What the Living Do, and is editing an anthology with Michael Klein of nonfiction prose about AIDS to be published in spring 1994. Ms. Howe teaches at Tufts University, and will teach at Sarah Lawrence College this fall.

The fall 1993 literary season comes to a close with a reading by two recent poetry prizewinners, Susan Mitchell and Charles Wright, on December 16. Susan Mitchell, winner of the first Kingsley Tufts Award (1992) and the 1992 Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship, is a graduate of Wellesley College and holds a master's degree from Georgetown University. She is the author of the collections Rapture, nominated for a 1992 National Book Award and The Water Inside the Water, soon to be reissued. Charles Wright, winner of the 1993 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, teaches at the University of Virginia. He served as Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Padua and, in spring 1992, Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Universita degli Studi, Florence, and has translated the work of Italian poets Eugenio Montale and Cesare Pavese. His collections of poetry include The Grave of the Right Hand, The Other Side of the River, and The World of the Ten Thousand Things. The reading will be in the Mumford Room at 6:45 p.m.

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PR 93-107
8/25/93
ISSN 0731-3527