UMaine Plays Host to International Poetry Conference
Contact: Steve Evans, (207) 581-3818; Joe Carr, (207) 581-3571
ORONO — The 1970s were a tumultuous time in American culture — and the poetry of the decade distills that to its most raw form.
As part of its “decades” conference series, The National Poetry Foundation at the University of Maine will bring together an international roster of poets to examine “Poetry of the 1970s.” Conference by day, literary festival by night, the event will take place from June 11 to 15 at the Orono campus.
Keynote poets include Bruce Andrews, Rae Armantrout, Nicole Brossard, Clark Coolidge, Jayne Cortez, Ann Lauterbach, Bernadette Mayer, Tom Raworth, and Fred Wah.
In the ’70s, these and other poets forged strong connections with artists — the painter Jasper Johns incorporated Coolidge’s words into his paintings. Alex Katz’s portrait of Lauterbach is iconic.
To highlight those collaborations, the Lord Hall Gallery on campus will exhibit 1970s selections from the University of Maine Museum of Art’s permanent collection. A portion of the gallery will be dedicated to a partial digital re-creation of Bernadette Mayer’s 1972 installation, “Memory.” Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville will also exhibit a special collection of Alex Katz’s work in commemoration of the conference.
Though the conference speaks to the issues of the decade, the poets’ message is equally relevant today. And so is the National Poetry Foundation.
“Where else in the United States is there still a hub for the avant-garde, politically infused, radical poetic traditions of the ’70s?” asks Jennifer Moxley, a poet and associate professor of English at UMaine. “Where they’re part of that alternative counterculture tradition as opposed to academic or mainstream?”
The National Poetry Foundation is that hub. Founded in 1971 by UMaine English professor and Ezra Pound scholar Carroll F. Terrell, the NPF has earned an international reputation for its innovative approach to scholarship in the fields of modern and contemporary poetry and poetics.
From its inception, NPF has championed writers who are off the mainstream radar, and in doing so attracted a following to its conferences and journals, Paideuma and Sagetrieb.
Working in close partnership with the University of Maine English Department, the NPF undertook a major new initiative in 1999 with the launch of the New Writing Series, a program of public readings and events that has brought hundreds of today’s most adventurous writers to the UMaine campus.
The following events are free and open to the public. Readings will take place in Minsky Recital Hall, located in the Class of 1944 Hall. The art opening will take place in Lord Hall.
Wednesday, June 11
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6:30 p.m., reception and art opening, Lord Hall Gallery.
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8 p.m., plenary poetry reading by Fred Wah
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9:30 p.m., group and open poetry readings
Thursday, June 12
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7:30 p.m., plenary poetry reading by Bruce Andrews
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8:30 p.m. plenary poetry reading by Jayne Cortez
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10 p.m., special group reading by “Grand Piano” contributors, including Steve Benson, Kit Robinson and Barrett Watten
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11 p.m., open readings
Friday, June 13
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8 p.m., plenary poetry reading by Ann Lauterbach
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9 p.m., plenary poetry reading by Nicole Brossard
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10:30 p.m., special group reading by Washington, D.C. poets, including Tina Darragh, Lynne Dreyer, P. Inman, Joan Retallack, Phyllis Rosenzweig, Diane Ward, introduced by Tom Orange
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11:30 p.m., open readings
Saturday, June 14
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8 p.m., plenary poetry reading by Tom Raworth
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9 p.m., plenary poetry reading by Rae Armantrout
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10 p.m., open readings and party