The Salon Series

 the poetry salon

is often honored by guest presences. These wonderful visiting poets hold Q & A sessions with students, engage in collaborative poetry making, and sit in conversation with members of our faculty.

Spring 2018 Schedule

Thursday, February 15
5:00 PM | Greywood Lounge

francine j. harris is the author of play dead. Her first collection, allegiance, was a finalist for the 2013 Kate Tufts Discovery and PEN Open Book Award. Originally from Detroit, she has received fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, is a Cave Canem poet, and Writer in Residence at Washington University in St. Louis.

Thursday, March 1
5:00 PM | Greywood Lounge

John Keene’s most recent books include the short fiction collection Counternarratives (New Directions, 2015), which received a 2016 American Book Award, a 2016 Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, and in March 2017 the UK's inaugural Republic of Consciousness Prize; the art book GRIND (ITI Press, 2016), an art-text collaboration with photographer Nicholas Muellner; and the poetry chapbook Playland (Seven Kitchens Press, 2016). He is also the translator of Brazilian author Hilda Hilst’s novel Letters from a Seducer (Nightboat Books / A Bolha Editora, 2014), and other works of fiction and poetry. He chairs the department of African American and African Studies, and also teaches English and creative writing at Rutgers University-Newark.

Thursday, April 12
5:00 PM | Greywood Lounge

Ada Limón is the author of four books of poetry, including Bright Dead Things, which was named a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award in Poetry, a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, a finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award, and one of the Top Ten Poetry Books of the Year by The New York Times. Her other books include Lucky Wreck, This Big Fake World, and Sharks in the Rivers. She serves on the faculty of Queens University of Charlotte Low Residency M.F.A program, and the 24Pearl Street online program for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. She also works as a freelance writer splitting her time between Lexington, Kentucky and Sonoma, California. http://adalimon.com/about.html

Fall 2017 Schedule

Thursday, August 31
5:00 PM | Greywood Lounge

Welcome back! We're back and we're ready to talk poetry! This first meeting is going to be centered around figuring out what direction we want the group to take this year. This is your group, and we want to hear your ideas! The theme for this year is community; it's about bringing people together through poetry and creating an inclusive space where we can talk about our art and support each other. Please come through if you can! As always, there will be poems and snacks.

Thursday, September 14
5:00 PM | Greywood Lounge

Ronaldo V. Wilson, PhD, is the author of Narrative of the Life of the Brown Boy and the White Man (University of Pittsburgh, 2008), winner of the 2007 Cave Canem Prize, Poems of the Black Object (Futurepoem Books, 2009), winner of the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry and the Asian American Literary Award in Poetry in 2010.  His latest books are Farther Traveler: Poetry, Prose, Other (Counterpath Press, 2015), finalist for a Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry and Lucy 72 (1913 Press, 2017). Co-founder of the Black Took Collective, Wilson is also a mixed media artist, dancer and performer. His Off the Dome: Rants, Raps, and Meditations, an online album, exists on The Conversant. His short films “Grey,” “White,” “Blue,” “Red,” “Green,” “Brown,” “Pink,” “Black,” can also be found online at the Center for Art and Thought. Wilson is currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz, serving on the core faculty of the Creative Critical PhD Program, and co-directing the Creative Writing Program.  He splits his time between Santa Cruz, CA and Long Island, New York.