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A Celebration of Poet Lorine Niedecker's Life and Works

From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2003 16:24:25 -0500

Mark your calendar now, and make plans so you will be free to attend the Centenary Celebration of Poet Lorine Niedecker.

No matter where your friends and colleagues live, send this message to them now. Even if they can't come to the Centenary Celebration, they'll want to discover, or rediscover, Poet Lorine Niedecker.

Those of us on the planning committee hope you and your friends can be with us, because this will be a unique opportunity to delve into Niedecker and her works on her own home ground.


"Celebrating Lorine Niedecker: A Centenary Celebration," a three?y conference during the anniversary year of this noted poet's birth, will take place on Thursday and Friday, October 9 & 10, at the Milwaukee Public Library and the Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee, and it will continue on Saturday, October 11, in the Fort Atkinson environs of most of Lorine's life.

Lorine Niedecker's dramatic personal story will unfold in new ways throughout the conference. So will the story of her ascent to literary fame despite considerable barriers. Haven't heard of Lorine Niedecker? To discover this astonishing poet for yourself, you're encouraged to visit the website of the Academy of American poets http://www.poets.org/academy/ and the Niedecker web page created by Jenny Penberthy
& Patrick F. Durgin http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/niedecker/

Niedecker's writing attracted high praise from her peers - Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams, Louis Zukofsky, Cid Corman, Clayton Eshleman, Basil Bunting - yet thirty-one years after her death, Lorine Niedecker remains a national treasure little known to so many. The centenary of her birth is the perfect occasion to honor her in her home state, and to invite people from the entire continent and beyond to take advantage of this opportunity.

"Celebrating Lorine Niedecker" will bring together eminent authors, biographers, poets, artists, critics, and film makers from Wisconsin, across the nation, Canada and Great Britain to celebrate Lorine Niedecker's art and life. Confirmed national and international speakers include Michael Ondaatje, author of "The English Patient"; poets Anne Waldman, Michael Davidson, and Rachel Blau du Plessis; visiting scholar Jenny Penberthy (editor of "Lorine Niedecker: Woman and Poet" and "Lorine Niedecker: Collected Works"); Niedecker biographer Glenna Breslin; and literary critic Marjorie Perloff. Other participants include Paul Hayes, Ron Ellis, Elizabeth Willis, Cathy Cook, and Faith Miracle.

On Thursday and Friday, October 9 & 10, Niedecker's art and legacy will be addressed by speakers, panel discussions, live performance of her plays and readings from her works. A special exhibition at Woodland Pattern's gallery will feature photographs of Niedecker's family, and of sites featured in her writing, drawings and prints by Wisconsin artist Joanna Poehlman based on Niedecker writings. A special exhibition of Niedecker-related artist books created by Ian Hamilton Finley's Wild Hawthorne Press (Edinburgh, Scotland) is tentatively scheduled during this time. Other Milwaukee?sed events will include evening speakers, readings by conference participants, and a Niedecker film by film maker Cathy Cook.

The conference will culminate on Saturday, October 11, in nearby Fort Atkinson, Niedecker's lifelong home town. Visiting writers and the general public will have an opportunity to see her personal library collection housed at the Dwight Foster Public Library, the newly established Niedecker Room at the Hoard Museum, her modest home place on the relatively isolated Black Hawk Island, and her grave site. Saturday's schedule also includes panel presentations and an evening of readings by winners of the first annual Niedecker Award.

Conference pre-registration will be $75 until September 10, after which it will be
$100. Registration will cover participation at all readings, exhibitions and conference events. The registration fee will be the same for all attendees, regardless of whether or not you plan to attend all three days/evenings or only part of the conference. There is a reduced registration fee for full-time students.

For current information on this and other Niedecker events happening throughout the year go to http://www.fort.lib.wi.us/lorine/lorine For additional information contact either: 1. Anne Kingsbury or Peter Whalen at Woodland Patten Book Center woodlandpattern at execpc.com ; phone 414&3P01 Tuesday - Sunday; www.http://woodlandpattern.org ; or 2. Amy Lutzke, Dwight Foster Public Library, Fort Atkinson alutzke at mwfls.org ; phone 920V3w90 http://www.fort.lib.wi.us

"Lorine Niedecker: A Centenary Celebration" is sponsored by Woodland Pattern Book Center in collaboration with the Dwight Foster Public Library, and by a host of underwriters, sponsors and friends all of whom will be listed in future announcements.

Stay tuned!

Ginny Moore Kruse




 




Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Tue 01 Jul 2003 04:24:25 PM CDT