Events

Dorianne Laux, before becoming an award-winning poet, worked as a sanatorium cook, a gas station manager, a maid, and a donut holer. Tony Hoagland calls her work the poetry of “one who looks clearly, passionately, and affectionately at rites of passage, motherhood, the life of work, sisterhood, and especially sexual love, in a celebratory fashion.” Publishers Weekly says, “Laux works in the idiom of Philip Levine and Sharon Olds, yet Laux’s best verse is perhaps more surprising than theirs.” She is the author of four volumes of poetry, including Smoke, Awake, and Facts About the Moon, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, as was an earlier collection, What We Carry. She is also the author, with Kim Addonizio, of The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. Patricia Smith, as well-known on the stage as on the page, is a four-time winner of the National Poetry Slam, the most successful slammer to date. Smith’s fifth collection of poetry, Blood Dazzler, a National Book Award finalist and named one of NPR’s Top 5 books for 2008, is “a towering testament to the tragedy of New Orleans before, during, and after Katrina” (Booklist). Terrance Hayes says, "Smith is herself a storm of beautiful, frightening talent. Her words will wash you or wash you away. I consider this new book a major literary event." Smith’s earlier collection, Teahouse of the Almighty, was selected for the National Poetry Series and was awarded the first ever Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. She was also featured in the film, Slamnation, on the HBO series, Def Poetry Jam. General admission tickets: $5, on sale March 22, 2010. Free rush tickets for student and seniors 65+ available only at the door starting at 6:45 p.m., the night of the event. Click here for tickets and details.