Pulitzer Prize Winners Meet at Franz Wright Reading
Members of the Curry community were privileged to enjoy an evening in October 2004 with Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet Franz Wright, who read selections from various collections of his poetry including Walking to Martha's Vineyard, for which he received the 2004 Pulitzer Prize. Wright's work includes The Beforelife (2001), Ill Lit: New and Selected Poems (1998), Rorschach Test (1995), The Night World and the Word Night (1993), and Midnight Postscript (1993). He has also translated poems by Rene Char, Erica Pedretti, and Rainer Maria Rilke. Wright has received the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, as well as grants and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Likely for the first time in Curry's history, two Pulitzer Prize winners were together on the Curry campus that night. Lloyd Schwartz, a wonderful poet himself, attended Wright's reading; Schwartz is the 1994 Pulitzer Prize winning critic for his skillful and resonant classical music criticism in the Boston Phoenix. |
Sue Miller Finds a Fan - Filled Room at Lost in the Forest Reading
Novelist Sue Miller lit up the room and had the literary crowd wanting more as she read an excerpt from her upcoming novel Lost in the Forest at the last Littlefield Lecture.
Ms. Miller also discussed The Story of My Father, a memoir about her father's death from Alzheimer's disease, and took questions from the audience on a myriad of topics including the experience of having her work adapted for TV and movie productions. Sue Miller is the author of The Good Mother, Family Pictures, For Love, The Distinguished Guest, While I Was Gone, The World Below, as well as a collection of short stories.
Her appearance at Curry was made possible by Writer in Residence Bill Littlefield, host of the popular Littlefield Lecture Series on Creative Writing. The Littlefield Lecture Series brings to campus extraordinary writers with extraordinary stories to tell, or wonderful poems and prose to share. |
Dr. Bernard LaFayette Shares Dr. M.L.K., Jr. Experiences with Curry Community |
It was standing room only in the Hafer Academic Building in December 2004 when nonviolence leader Dr. Bernard LaFayette came to the Curry campus as a guest lecturer, speaking about his experiences working with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights mo vement.
A close associate and friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. LaFayette has been teaching since King's death and institutionalizing Kingian nonviolence worldwide. As a young college student, he co-founded the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee, organized the sit-ins and the freedom rides. As a young man he headed up King's Poor People's campaign, worked in the Chicago M ovement with King and served on his Executive Council.
Dr. LaFayette informed and inspired scores of community members, thanks to Dr. Susan Peterson, Assistant Professor in the English Department, who arranged for him to speak in her classes as well as at the Hafer Commuter Café.
"The impact of the speech on students was enormous," noted Sociology Professor Dr. Magueye Seck. "It was incredible to see so many students - with full attention - listening for more than two hours non-stop in the last week of classes!" |
