Prominent poet Rosanna Warren to read from her writings Oct. 15 at The Venue
Award-winning poet Rosanna Warren will visit Bloomington Oct. 15 for a public reading and reception. The free event will be held at 5:30 p.m. at The Venue, 114 S. Grant St.
In a career that has spanned more than 30 years, Warren has written poetry, produced translations and published literary criticism. Her most recent collection of poems, “Ghost in a Red Hat,” was published in 2011. Warren has won several Pushcart Prizes, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award of Merit in Poetry, a Guggenheim Fellowship and numerous other honors. Since 2012 she also has served as a distinguished professor at the University of Chicago.
Rosanna Warren is an award-winning poet who will appear at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 15 at The Venue.
“It is wonderful to have one of the most prominent poets in America visit,” said David Hertz, chair of the Department of Comparative Literature at Indiana University Bloomington. “Clearly she is one of the few really important poets of her generation. Each word she writes is carefully chosen and makes our language fresh. That is always a sign of a major poet in our language, and also in others.”
Hertz has organized Thursday’s event with Warren, which is sponsored by the IU departments of comparative literature; English; French and Italian; and The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs.
As a critic and translator, Warren has spent a great deal of time absorbing the writings of poets who worked in other languages. “I couldn’t think of any other poet of her generation who has more clearly presented an original American voice and also responded to the music of other languages around the world,” Hertz said.
“She has also served as a leader in a variety of important literary organizations and proved to be a real champion of the humanities in this troubled era. This variety of great abilities is really rare and extremely needed today.”
Warren, who also has served as chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, was raised in Connecticut by her parents, both writers. Her father was Poet Laureate Robert Penn Warren, who won Pulitzers for both fiction and poetry, while her mother Eleanor Clark was a prize-winning author of criticism, fiction and travel books.
“All the really important poets I have read have something in their words that makes experience more intense and new for me,” Hertz said. “I discover something new in the words of the poet and then, as a result, something newly articulated in myself as well! The poet’s word shows the way. Rosanna Warren has this remarkable gift.”
Warren herself first studied painting at Yale University, so it seems particularly fitting that her Bloomington reading of poetry and translations will be taking place at The Venue, an art gallery. More information is available online.
Tags: "Ghost in a Red Hat", David Hertz, poetry, Rosanna Warren
