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TCC 2010 LITERARY FESTIVAL – APRIL 5-8
Four poets – four voices
All free, public invited
[Photo Essay, Videos]
HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (Jan. 22, 2010) – Four dynamic American poets who have helped shape the literary landscape of the nation will highlight Tidewater Community College’s ninth annual Literary Festival – April 5-8.
The free, public festival launches with Kay Ryan, U.S. Poet Laureate, as the keynote speaker at 7 p.m. on opening night, April 5, in the TCC Roper Performing Arts Center in downtown Norfolk.
Kay Ryan
With a theme of “Four poets – four voices,” this year’s festival showcases landmark writers, diverse and profound in their acclaimed styles and presentations. (Please see http://www.tcc.edu/LiteraryFestival.)
Guest poets (by order of appearance): Kay Ryan has written six books of poetry including Dragon Acts to Dragon Ends, Say Uncle and The Niagara River. Her writing, often compared to that of Emily Dickinson because it illuminates the ordinary, has been selected four times for The Best American Poetry and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Yale Review and The American Scholar. She was named to the “It List” by Entertainment Weekly, and one of her poems has been permanently installed at New York’s Central Park Zoo. Her poems have been widely reprinted and internationally anthologized. Since 2006, she has been a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Taylor Mali, one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement, studied drama in Oxford with members of The Royal Shakespeare Company and puts those presentation skills to work in his performances. One of the original poets to appear on the HBO series, Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry, Mali was the “Armani-clad villain” of Paul Devlin’s 1997 documentary film SlamNation. He has written two books of poetry, The Last Time As We Are and What Learning Leaves. He makes his living entirely as a spoken-word and voiceover artist. He has narrated several books on tape including The Great Fire, for which he won the Golden Earphone Award for children’s narration.
Widely published Charles Wright received a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1998 for Black Zodiac and a National Book Award in 1983 for Country Music: Selected Early Poems. In 1993, he received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for his lifetime achievement. Wright began writing poetry in Italy when he was stationed there with the U.S. Army. He returned to the states to pursue his writing, attending a writers’ workshop at University of Iowa, and later earning a master’s degree. He spent a year at the University of Rome as a Fulbright Scholar and also taught at the University of California at Irvine. He is currently a chancellor of The Academy of American Poets and the Souder Family Professor of English at the University of Virginia.
Nikki Giovanni, one of the most widely-read American poets insists on presenting the truth as she sees it, maintaining a prominent place as a strong voice of the African-American community. Her autobiography, Gemini, was a finalist for the National Book Award; and Love Poems, Blues: For All the Changes and Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea were honored with NAACP Image Awards. Blues: For All the Changes reached No. 4 on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list, a rare achievement for a book of poems. Giovanni has come to be called both a “National Treasure” and, most recently, one of Oprah Winfrey’s 25 “Living Legends.” The author of some 30 books for both adults and children, Giovanni is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech.
TCC faculty, including published authors, as well as students, will read from their works throughout the festival on TCC’s four campuses (Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach). The Literary Festival also unveils the best-of-student writing in ChannelMarker, an annual publication.
With an emphasis on offering community access to diverse writing and presentations, TCC’s Literary Festival is free and open to the public; seating is first come, first served. For more information, contact TCC’s Information Center, 822-1122. For campus maps and driving directions, visit the web: http://www.tcc.edu/ and type in Campus Maps.
TCC LITERARY FESTIVAL 2010 SCHEDULE
Monday, April 5 – Opening night:
7 p.m.
Keynote address by Kay Ryan - reception and book signing follow
TCC Jeanne and George Roper Performing Arts Center, 340 Granby St., Norfolk Campus
Tuesday, April 6
12:30 p.m.
Campus readings by students and faculty
Martin Building, room 2505, Norfolk Campus
12:30 p.m.
Campus readings by students and faculty
Building A, The Forum, The New Portsmouth Campus
12:30 p.m.
Campus readings by students and faculty
Pungo Building, room F-133, Virginia Beach Campus
7 p.m.
Performance poetry by Taylor Mali
TCC Roper Performing Arts Center, 340 Granby St., Norfolk Campus
Wednesday, April 7
2 p.m.
Campus readings by students and faculty
Pass Building, Studio Theatre, Room 157, Chesapeake Campus
7 p.m.
Readings by Charles Wright
Pass Building, Studio Theatre, Chesapeake Campus
Thursday, April 8
12:30 p.m.
An evening with Nikki Giovanni
Advanced Technology Center, Virginia Beach Campus
7 p.m.
An evening with Nikki Giovanni
Building A, The Forum, New Portsmouth Campus
