On October 22 Judy Vichniac, former associate dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, passed away.
An accomplished academic, she possessed in addition an idealism and generosity that inspired me on a daily basis during my stint at the Institute. I will always recall her as the one at the door of Byerly Hall, arms spread in welcome and the perfect sharp exclamation of acknowledgement issuing not only from the largess of her mind but also from the portal of a deep spirit.
To learn more about this remarkable individual, follow the link below:
Follow the link below to hear an interview with me conducted by Don Wooten, in the seventh decade of his broadcasting career, and Roald Tweet, Augustana College professor emeritus, at NPR affiliate WVIK on June 27, 2019:
Chapter 10 of it all melts down to this: a novel in timelines appears in the latest issue of the Journal of Black Mountain College Studies out of Asheville, North Carolina.
On June 27that 7 pm I delivered an address–“The Mission of Writing”–in conjunction with the David R. Collins Writers’ Conference in Davenport, Iowa.
The venue was the Figge Art Museum at 225 West 2nd Street.
Here I am with my generous hosts Ryan Collins (Midwest Writing Center Executive Director) and Susan Collins (Midwest Writing Center Board Member)
Here I’m blessed with the company of Jodie Toohey (standing: Midwest Writing Center President), Rochelle Murray (seated: the resilient librarian who fulfilled my odd request for Aaron Copland’s home address when I was ten years old) and Dick Stahl (seated: a poet who attended Writers’ Studio when I did in the late 1970s and early 1980s)
To learn more above the lead-up to the event, follow the link below:
Chapter 1 of it all melts down to this: a novel in timelines appears in the latest issue of AMP (Volume 4, No. 1), a journal out of Hofstra University.
Last week my collaborator Dale Williams and I were on the campus of Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa) doing what we do. Dale flew in from Brooklyn for the event.
On April 24 I visited Professor Katy Stavreva’s ENG 322 Shakespeare’s Rivals class, participating in a discussion of the literature of exile, and working with students to devise a strategy of publically presenting sections of Marlowe’s play of exile Edward II in conjunction with lines from my recently completed novel of exile What Days Are Like When There Are Only Nights.
On April 25 Dale and I discussed the topic of artistic collaboration with Professor Sandra Dyas’s ART 307 Advanced Photography class. Later that day, at the school’s Center for the Literary Arts, we presented sections of the first three completed phases of Cage Dies Bird Flies, preceded by a performance by ENG 322 students.
Below is a link to a video of the performance:
Cage Dies Bird Flies is a multi-phase collaboration. Each phase consists of 81 artworks inspired by my texts. These works, in turn, form the basis of books, exhibitions, recordings, performances. The plan is to execute ten phases.
Illuminations by the Slice, Phase I, was created between 2012-2014
Giant Miniature Illuminations, Phase II, was created between 2014-2016
The Luminous Dark: Landscapes Found and Lost, phase III, was created between 2017-2019
Before it snowed, Dale and I, along with poet Anne Pierson Wiese, visited Stone City, Iowa, the site of Grant Wood’s art colony in the 1930s. Below is an image of the three us standing in front of the Stone City General Store.
I am thrilled to announce that Anne Pierson Wiese, my partner of many years, has been chosen to receive the prestigious Amy Lowell Traveling Scholarship.
Anne’s previous honors include the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, and the Discovery/The Nation Poetry Prize.
The Traveling Scholarship, established by the poet Amy Lowell (1874-1925), supports adventures abroad for gifted American-born poets.
Previous winners include Elizabeth Bishop, Stanley Kunitz, Adrienne Rich, Kenneth Rexroth, Galway Kinnell, Henri Cole and Mary Jo Salter.
“it all melts down to this (chapter 12)”–a text inspired the extraordinary drawings of Dale Williams–which originally appeared in The Offbeat, a journal out of Michigan State University, will be included in Best American Experimental Writing 2020 guest edited by Joyelle McSweeney and Carmen Maria Machado (Wesleyan University Press).
For more information about the forthcoming volume, click the link below:
