International Poetry Forum

Peg Boyers — November 12, 2008
On November 12, 2008, poet and translator Peg Boyers will read her work. The author of two books, Hard Bread and Honey With Tobacco, Boyers serves as the Executive Editor of the humanities quarterly Salmagundi Magazine and has lived all over the world, including many years in Italy. She currently calls New York her home. Her poems and essays have appeared in Slate, Paris Review, Harvard Review, Southern Review and Ploughshares, among others. Boyers has been praised for her brilliant lyricism, intensity and her strong personal voice. She intertwines themes of geography and space, often translating a representation of space in life to space on the page, and she uses foreign languages to give her work a sensual and, at times, an intentionally jumbled quality. Steve Cramer of Poetry writes that Boyers’ poems are, “unapologetic in their devotion to subject, clarity, precision, and accessibility.”

Yannis Simonides — December 10, 2008
Yannis Simonides will perform his one man show, “The Apology Project,” on December 10, 2008. The show reenacts Socrates’ defense in the Athenian court and his rebuttals to a guilty verdict and sentence of death. Simonides is a Yale Drama School trained actor/writer and an Emmy-winning documentary producer. He is the founder and director of the Greek Theater Ellinko Theatro and his performances include plays by Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Brecht and Shakespeare. Sophia Apessos of The National Herald writes that Simonides, “gives a penetrating performance and brings history to life, making the immortal words of Plato as relevant today as they were when he first wrote them in ancient Greece.” Audience members credited Simonides’ interpretation of Socrates’ Apology as being bold and intelligent and his performance both unassuming and inspiring.

Grigoris Maninakis — December 12, 2008
In keeping with the Greek theme, the International Poetry Forum welcomes Grigoris Maninakis and the Mikrokosmos Ensemble on December 12, 2008 at the Carnegie Music Hall to perform the special presentation “Greece in Poetry and Song.” Grigoris Maninakis and the Mikrokosmos Ensemble have performed in some of the most prestigious theaters and universities in the United States and have also toured Greece and Europe performing quality contemporary and traditional Greek music, including the music of Rebetika. All of the poems in this program will be the English translations of the original Greek. Grigoris Maninakis (lead vocalist) has been involved with Greek music and song for thirty years and has appeared at several venues, including the Carnegie Recital Hall, Alice Tully and The Peter Norton Symphony Space. He has toured with The Kare Aman Amerika Orchestra and released two CD’s. The members of the Mikrokosmos Ensemble include Glafkos Kontemeniotis (keyboard), Kostas Psarros (bouzouki), Megan Gould (violin), Spiros Arnakis (drums) and Lina Orfanos (guest vocalist).

Dr. Samuel Hazo — February 11, 2009
The International Poetry Forum will kick off the new year with Samuel Hazo on February 11, 2009. Hazo is the founder and director of the International Poetry Forum and McAnulty Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Duquesne University. Along with poetry, he has written fiction, drama, essays, memoir and translations. His most recent collection, The Song of the Horse: A Selection of Poems 1958-2008, “...brings us once again, in poem after poem, the flow of thought in a lively mind. His work is meditative, and yet, because of its humane warmth and wit, it seems continually shared” (Richard Wilbur). He has received the Maurice English Poetry Award and the Griffin Award for Creative Writing along with ten Honorary Doctorates, the last of which he received in May of 2008 from his Alma Mater, Notre Dame.

Ron Padgett — March 11, 2009
On March 11, 2009, Ron Padgett, Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, will read his poetry. Padgett’s first collection of poems was published in 1967. Since then, he has published poetry, translations, a memoir and collaborative works. He served as the Director of the Saint Marks Poetry Project and the Teachers and Writers Collaborative. The quiet, conversational tone in Padgett’s work makes it accessible to readers. About his latest book of poems, How to Be Perfect, Entertainment Weekly writes, “Padgett’s deceptively light poems muse on everyday items (English muffins; a toothbrush) exploring our desires and insecurities. A few rare long poems on major themes (war; how to be perfect) demonstrate Padgett’s ambition.”

Adam Zagajewski — April 14, 2009
The 2008-2009 season At This Instant will conclude with a reading by Polish poet Adam Zagajewski on April 14, 2009 (Note: this is a Tuesday evening performance). Zagajewski will be receiving the second Charity Randall Citation of the season. Born in Lvov, Zagajewski was a major figure of the Polish New Wave literary movement of the early 1970’s and the anti-Communist Solidarity movement of the 1980’s. He is considered one of the most well-known and highly regarded contemporary Polish poets in Europe and the United States, and his poetry survives translations with power. His most recent book, Eternal Enemies, which was translated from Polish by Clare Cavanaugh, “...finds [Zagajewski] reflecting on place, language and history. Especially moving here are his tributes to writers, friends known in person or in books-people such as Milosz and Sebald, Brodsky and Blake-which intermingle naturally with portraits of family members and loved ones. Eternal Enemies is a luminous meeting of art and everyday life.”