In anticipation of the centenary celebrations of Bishop’s birth in 1911 and in connection with the upcoming publication of Elizabeth Bishop and The New Yorker: The Complete Correspondence (forthcoming in 2011 by Farrar Strauss Giroux), editor and poet Joelle Biele is developing a staged theatrical performance of Bishop’s letters. Biele and performers will present the script at the Grad Center on OCTOBER 5 as a work-in-progress. Following the performance, moderator Leah Souffrant will invite audience members to evaluate the translation of the epistolary to the performed, letter writing as performance, and the relationships between writers, editors, and their audience.

This spring’s semi-annual end-of-semester poetry reading to kick off the Revels celebration was a multi-genre, multi-lingual romp, hosted by MC John Harkey. Featuring:
Ashley Dawson
Leah Souffrant
Sara Jane Stoner
Corey Frost
Margaret Carson
Nikolina Nedeljkov
Livia Woods
Rowena Kennedy-Epstein

Tuesday, May 4, 2010
5:00PM to 7:30PM
Room 5414
Free!
open to the public

Join the GC Poetics Group for a [creative] writing workshop!
No advance reading or preparation required.

“In this frantic, routine-driven world we need freedom from regimented (poetry) writing, and a healthy dose of walking the space between Soma (spirit) and Somatic (body). Using gemstones, trees, and the city itself, we will create deliberate, sustained physical manipulations to generate language to write.”

This workshop will begin with a short talk by CAConrad on the process of (Soma)tic writing, followed by a reading of some of his (soma)tic works. Conrad will then lead us through our own (soma)tic exercise, and by the end of the session, all participants will have a new draft of a piece of writing to work with, and time to consult with Conrad and participate in a collective rendering of the afternoon’s work.

CAConrad is the recipient of The Gil Ott Book Award for The Book of Frank (Chax Press, 2009). He is also the author of Advanced Elvis Course (Soft Skull Press, 2009), (Soma)tic Midge (Faux Press, 2008), Deviant Propulsion (Soft Skull Press, 2006), and a collaboration with poet Frank Sherlock titled The City Real & Imagined (Factory School, 2010). Conrad has taught (Soma)tic Writing Workshops at the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, Small Press Traffic in San Francisco, CA, and locally in and around the Philadelphia area.

Join poet and editor Annie Finch, along with contributors to the anthology Multiformalisms: Postmodern Poetics of Form, for a lively discussion of how contemporary poets use and understand forms. The conversation, like the book, will juxtapose traditional formalism and Flarf, the American long poem and native Hawaiian poetry, rhyme in Paul Muldoon and textual variability in New Media poetry, Susan Howe and Lucinda Roy, jazz and Asian American poetics, and much more. Featuring Marilyn Hacker, Patricia Smith, Tyler Hoffman, and Stefania deKenessey. Presented by the Center for the Humanities and the GC Poetics Group. Moderated by Corey Frost.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010. 6:30 pm. At the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue New York, Rm. 9206.
Multiformalisms : Postmodern Poetics of Form. (Essays. Edited by Annie Finch and Susan M. Schultz. Textos Books.)

The Postcolonial Studies Group invites you to a special event to celebrate and discuss two new books: Lopamudra Basu (University of Wisconsin, Stout) and Cynthia Leenerts (East Stroudsburg University) will discuss their anthology Passage to Manhattan: Critical Essays on Meena Alexander, and Meena Alexander (Hunter College and The Graduate Center, CUNY) will be present to discus her own Poetics of Dislocation.

March 26, 4-6pm

CUNY Graduate Center 4th floor English Lounge (4406),  365 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10016

Some very exciting work has been going on around here, a large-scale archeological dig of sorts, and December 8th is your chance to discover what has been unearthed: come to the launch of the inaugural chapbook series of Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Documents Initiative. This is a ground-breaking project, and we’re all excited to see it happen. More info here.

Hi all,

On Dec. 11th at 5 pm, just before the maelstrom of Winter Revels begins to spin, the GC Poetics Group in collaboration with the ESA will be hosting Image Music Text, our semi-annual reading, in the English Department lounge. The roster is starting to fill up, but we are still looking for participants.

For those unfamiliar with the tradition: each year before the English Department’s winter party we host a reading at which Graduate Center writers perform their work, whether it’s poetry, short prose, theatre, inspired babble, or anything performative.

There are a lot of talented writers at the GC, both faculty and students, and past readings have had impressive and eclectic line-ups. Each performer has 4-5 minutes to do with what you want!

We try to include different people each year, and newcomers are especially welcome. Scientists and philosophers too. If you would like to take part in this year’s reading, please contact us (via gcpoetics@gmail.com) and the sooner the better.

Your hosts,

Erica Kaufman
Ben Miller

Eileen Myles, author of more than 20 volumes of poetry, fiction, articles, plays and libretti, gives a reading/talk on her new book The Importance of Being Iceland: Travel Essays in Art. She will be joined by writers and GC doctoral candidates Corey Frost and Erica Kaufman. Corey Frost is the author of My Own Devices, a collection of travel stories, and Erica Kaufman is the author of Censory Impulse.

Friday October 2nd, 2009 6:30 pm, Room TBA
Event followed by informal reception.  Cosponsored by The Center for Humanities