223: AWP, Day 1

(Top: Dean Young; Bottom: Marvin Bell)

Union: A Conversation in Poetry. (Christopher Merrill, Marvin Bell, Tomaž Šalamun) This panel focuses on the creation of a book, Union, that was written together by seven poets from around the world. Four of those poets—Marvin Bell, Christopher Merrill, Tomaž Šalamun, and Dean Young—discuss the benefits and challenges of poetic collaborations and read selected poems from the book.

(Top: Ravi Shankar; Bottom: Tony Barnstone + Nathalie Handal)

Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East and Asia. (Nathalie Handal, Jill Bialosky, Kimiko Hahn, Ravi Shankar, Srikanth Reddy, Tina Chang) Language for a New Century brings the voices of some of the most exciting writers of our time. This unique and much anticipated collection by W.W. Norton is a landmark anthology, providing the most ambitious, far-reaching collection of contemporary Asian and Middle Eastern poetry available. This exciting panel features Norton editor, Jill Bialosky, poets and editors of the anthology, Nathalie Handal, Tina Chang, and Ravi Shankar, as well as contributors Kimiko Hahn and Srikanth Reddy for a reading and discussion on this book, which includes 400 unique voices from fifty-five countries writing in forty different languages, broadening our notion of contemporary literature.

(Above: Annie Finch)

Multiformalism: Postmodern Poetics of Form. (Susan M. Schultz, Hank Lazer, K. Silem Mohammad, Annie Finch) Language poetry meets new formalism at last, and the poems fly! Editors and contributors to a daring new multicultural, multiaesthetic anthology talk about where poetry is headed now.

(1: Cole Swensen 2: Cal Bedient 3: Forrest Gander 4: Cole Swensen 5: Brenda Hillman)

American Hybrid: The Meeting of Extremes. (Cole Swensen, Forrest Gander, Brenda Hillman, Cal Bedient, Lynn Emanuel, Mark McMorris) This panel will address the critical premise behind the 2009 Norton anthology American Hybrid: that the long-standing division in American poetry between tradition and experiment has given way to myriad hybrids informed by both extremes, bringing them into real conversation for the first time. The panelists chosen demonstrate the rich range of our poetic inheritances; their statements on this trend will be followed by a public discussion to explore its potentials and ramifications.

(Top: Brenda Hillman; Bottom: Forrest Gander)

Empty Bottle off site poetry reading. (We / being Colleen, Amanda, Bart, and Brian / only made it in time for the last two readers / I am disappointed in missing Alex Lemon, but I did go see him last March.)

More AWP images here. Not so much the wildfire I promised yesterday.

So, so much in my head right now, it all feels so very full. I will fall asleep easily tonight. And at some point, I promise, I will process this all, probably here. For now, sleep, because tomorrow is just as overwhelming.