Poetry With the Cooleys
As Father's Day approaches this Sunday (June 20), the timing is perfect for a special poetry reading by English professor Peter Cooley and his daughter, Nicole Cooley. The Cooleys will read from their latest books at 6 p.m. today (June 16) at Octavia Books, 513 Octavia St. in uptown New Orleans.
The author of eight books of poetry, Peter Cooley is a professor in the Tulane Department of English. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano).
The reading also is in celebration of Nicole Cooley's newly published volume of poetry, Breach.
In the book, she recalls Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in gritty, poignant detail, bearing witness to the destruction of a region and to its recovery.
In the title poem, Nicole Cooley invokes the multiple meanings of the word “breach” breach of the levees, breach of trust that resonate with survivors in the Crescent City. Her poem “Evacuation” recounts her efforts to encourage her parents to leave the city and her harrowing three-day wait to hear from them after they refused.
Raised in New Orleans, Nicole Cooley also is the author of the poetry collections Resurrection, winner of the Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets, and The Afflicted Girls. She directs the MFA program in creative writing and literary translation at Queens Collegeâ“The City University of New York.
Peter Cooley will read selections from his eight books of poetry including his most recent work, a collection of elegies, Divine Margins. He teaches creative writing at Tulane.
For additional information, contact Octavia Books at 504-899-7323.
