'Poetry Czar' Bob Holman Up Next for Writers Speak at Stony Brook Southampton
Award-winning and critically acclaimed poet and filmmaker Bob Holman will be the featured guest in the next Writers Speak Wednesdays event, a free author talk and reading open to the public at Stony Brook Southampton. Holman will speak on Wednesday, October 21, at 7 p.m. in the Radio Lounge on the second floor of Chancellors Hall.
Holman is an accomplished poet, spoken word performer, professor, activist, filmmaker, proprietor of the Bowery Poetry club, and more. Having published more than 16 poetry collections, Holman has been named to the “Poetry Pantheon” by New York Times Magazine. The New York Daily News has anointed him as “Ringmaster of The Spoken Word,” while the Village Voice simply refers to him as “Poetry Czar.”
Holman’s most recent projects include filming and serving as the host of Language Matters, a two-hour PBS special on “Endangered Languages” and publishing a poetry collection, Sing This One Back to Me. He introduced slam poetry as co-director of the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, and published an anthology ALOUD! Voices of the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe in 1994, which won the American Book Award.
He is also known for his five-part 1996 PBS series, The United States of Poetry, which offered a comprehensive look at 20th century poetry. The show, hailed by The New York Times as “downright courageous,” examined the art of the spoken word from poet laureates to emerging voices alike.
A central figure in redefining poetry on, off, and beyond the page, his many honors include two Emmy Awards, the 2006 Elizabeth Kray Poetry award from Poets House, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe’s Legend Award, the 2011 Villager Award from the Greenwich Village Historical Preservation Society, the 2012 Urban Word Champion Award, and the 2003 Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award.
Other writers scheduled for the series include: Arlene Alda, November 18; and Willie Perdomo, December 2. On December 9, the evening will be devoted to readings by “the stars of tomorrow.” Students currently enrolled in the MFA in Creative Writing and Literature program.
Writers Speak Wednesdays programs are free and open to the public. The evenings begin with a brief reception at 6:30 p.m. Readings begin at 7 p.m. followed by a Q&A and book signing. All programs are held in the Radio Lounge on the second floor of Chancellors Hall at Stony Brook Southampton, 239 Montauk Highway, Southampton, NY 11968.
For more information, call 631-632-5030 or visit stonybrook.edu/mfa.