MONTREAL/November 10, 2004—
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In association with the Blue Metropolis Literary Series, the Concordia University Department of English presents Mark Strand, as part of the Writers Read series. The public lecture will take place in the J.A. de SËve Cinema in the J.W. McConnell Building (1400 de Maisonneuve Boulevard West) on Friday, November 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Mark Strand was born in Prince Edward Island and raised in the United States and South America. He has published ten books of poems ñ including Blizzard of One (Knopf, 1998), which won the Pulitzer Prize, and Selected Poems (1980) ñ as well as two books of prose, several volumes of translation, several monographs on contemporary artists, and three books for children. His honours include the Bollingen Prize, three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a National Institute of Arts and Letters Award, the Edgar Allen Poe Prize, and a Rockefeller Foundation award, as well as fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Ingram Merrill Foundation. He has served as Poet Laureate of the United States and is a former Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. He currently teaches in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
Strand will be reading poems from his latest book, The Story of Our Lives (Knopf), a collection of three out-of-print works written in the 1970s that is a testament to Strand's versatility and intelligence. The Story of Our Lives is primarily an evocative lament for the author's deceased father.
The tradition of literary readings at Concordia predates the existence of the university itself, as such events were held well before Sir George Williams and Loyola merged in 1974. Over the years, the series, now called Writers Read at Concordia, has invited renowned and emerging authors, primarily Canadian, to read from and discuss their work with students and local audiences. An important part of the offerings in the Department of English, the series has been transformed this year ñ thanks to the generous cooperation and funding of the Faculty of Arts and Science ñ to include international writers and a greater focus on professional development, such as master classes for senior creative writing students. This year has already seen readings by Colm TÛibÌn and George Elliott andd will include Ibi Kaslik, Michael Redhill, Nino Ricci, Carmine Starnino, Mansel Robinson and Catherine Kidd. For the first time, two events in the current season ñ readings by Mark Strand and Michael Redhill ñ are co-produced with the Blue Metropolis Literary Series.
Blue Metropolis Foundation, founded in June 1997, is a non-profit organization whose core purpose is to gather people from different cultures to share the pleasures of reading and writing. The Foundation organizes activities throughout the year under the umbrella ìBlue Metropolis Literary Seriesî (including readings, on-stage conversations, literary cabarets, storytelling, etc.). It also offers a literacy and community writing programme, educational programmes for students from primary to CÈgep levels, and the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival (7th edition: March 30óApril 3, 2005). Blue Metropolis is playing an increasingly prominent role as a hub of Montreal's literary life, if the growing involvement in Blue Metropolis activities of players on the literary scene, such as Concordia University and its Writers Read at Concordia series, is any indication.
For more information on the Blue Metropolis Foundation please call (514) 937-BLEU or visit www.blue-met-bleu.com
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