Poetry Talk and Reading with Wesley McNair
In a dark time, unfastened by loss and despair, how does one find one’s way back to the world again? The latest collection by Maine’s former poet laureate Wesley McNair, titled The Unfastening, seeks to answer this question through poems of sorrow, and hope, and joy.
In a unique presentation at LPL, McNair will explain the complex, unexpected process through which the book reached its final form, weaving selected poems into his discussion. This free, public program will take place on Tuesday, June 12th at 4:00 PM in the Library’s Callahan Hall and will conclude with a book sale and signing.
Wes McNair has been called by poet Philip Levine “one of the great storytellers of contemporary poetry.” He is the author of nine volumes of poems and twenty books, including poetry, nonfiction, and edited anthologies. McNair has held grants from the Fulbright and Guggenheim foundations, two Rockefeller grants for study at the Bellagio Center in Italy, two NEA fellowships, and a United States Artist Fellowship as one of America’s “finest living artists.” He has twice been invited to read his poetry by the Library of Congress, and has served five times on the Pulitzer jury for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry.
Other honors include the Robert Frost Award, the Theodore Roethke Prize, an Emmy Award, and the Sarah Josepha Hale Medal, for his “distinguished contribution to the world of letters.” His poetry has been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition and 23 times on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. It has also appeared in the Best American Poetry and over sixty anthologies and textbooks. In 2015 he was named as the recipient of the 2015 PEN New England Award for Literary Excellence in Poetry.
Copies of The Unfastening will be available for sale at the event and a book signing will follow the talk. For more information, contact the LPL Adult & Teen Services desk at 513-3135 or LPLReference@Gmail.com.
