Acclaimed poet, writer, and teacher Aimee Nezhukumatathil will be the next featured poet in the John and Penny Barr Poetry Reading Series presented by the Graduate Writing Program.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of three books of poetry: Lucky Fish (2011), At the Drive-In Volcano (2007), and Miracle Fruit (2003). She collaborated with the poet Ross Gay on a chapbook of nature poems entitled Lace & Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens (2014) and, in 2018, Milkweed Editions will publish her book of illustrated nature essays. Her poems and essays have appeared in American Poetry Review, Poetry, Quarterly West, New England Review, Ploughshares, FIELD, Antioch Review, Prairie Schooner, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Southern Review, and Tin House. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Pushcart Prize, an NEA fellowship, and the Balcones Prize.
Praising her work, Billy Collins said, “Aimee Nezhukumatathil is able to handle serious subjects with the lightest of touches. Her edgy humor and keen eye keep her poems buoyant and fresh.” Naomi Shihab Nye declared: “Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s poems are as ripe, funny, and fresh as a precious friendship. They’re the fullness of days, deliciously woven of heart and verve...Poems like these revive our souls.”
Nezhukumatathil is professor of English at the State University of New York at Fredonia, where she was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal of Excellence and named the campus-wide Hagan Young Scholar. She is the poetry editor for Orion Magazine and currently serves as the John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi’s MFA program.
The John and Penny Barr Poetry Reading Series celebrates the ever-changing art of contemporary poetry. By bringing notable poets, both prominent and emerging, to read at the College, the program aims to enrich and inspire the community of writers and readers at Sarah Lawrence and in greater Westchester. Past readings featured Joshua Mehigan, Sarah Lindsay, and Christian Wiman. In addition to her public reading, Nezukumatathil will teach a master class in poetry to a select group of graduate writing students.
A reception with book sales and signing will follow Nezhukumatathil’s public reading. No reservations are required for this free program. For more information, please e-mail the Office of College Events or call 914.395.2412.