Acclaimed poet Kevin Young comes to Tulane
Tulane will host poet Kevin Young to give students and the community a chance to hear the work of a contemporary and relevant American poet. (Photo from the Poetry Foundation)
On Thursday (March 26), Tulane University will host contemporary poet Kevin Young, a writer renowned for his witty style and his poetry detailing the true American experience.
“Kevin Young is one of the most exciting American poets writing today,” says Peter Cooley, a professor of English at Tulane who is organizing a reading. “His inventions in form and voice, his innovations in Afro-American poetics and the sheer multiplicity of his achievements place him at the forefront of contemporary American literature.”
Young is the Atticus Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing and the curator of the Library Collections and the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library at Emory University in Atlanta. This spring semester, he is the Holmes Visiting Poet at Princeton University.
He has published seven collections of poetry and edited three anthologies. Young"s The Grey Album: On the Blackness of Blackness, won the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book for 2012, was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism, and won the PEN Open Award. His work is praised for its ability to describe a truly American experience and for its musical flow.
The poetry reading with Young will be held at 7:30 p.m. in Freeman Auditorium at the Woldenberg Art Center, with a reception to follow in the Faculty Lounge of Newcomb Hall.
The event will include a reading by Young, an interview with Cooley and time for audience members to ask questions. Cooley hopes that Young"s writing will inspire students and community members in the same way it has inspired him.
“He has inspired my writing by the wonderful play of sound in his poetry and his invention of new forms for his own purposes,” Cooley said.
The reading was organized by the Tulane Department of English through the Poetry Society of America, an organization that sponsors readings, symposia and workshops related to poetry. Tulane is one of a half-dozen universities allied with this organization and this alliance gives Tulane the opportunity to host acclaimed poets such as Young, Cooley says.
Claire Davenport is a first-year student at Tulane University, majoring in English and political science.
“Kevin Young's poetry is extremely accessible. He writes with an historical perspective often lacking in contemporary American poetry.”—Peter Cooley, English professor
