Sonoma State University will host Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carolyn Kizer and a panel of award-winning poets and critics who will discuss Kizer's work on Tues., Sept. 18, in Room 3001 of the university library in the Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center.
At 7 p.m., the panel, moderated by Sonoma County poet, editor and critic Dana Gioia, will speak about Kizer's life and contributions to the art of poetry.
At 8 p.m., Kizer will read from her new book of collected poems, "Cool, Calm and Collected." The event is free and the public is welcome.
As a poet, critic, translator and teacher, Kizer has shaped the course and discourse of American poetry for the last 50 years. As a feminist, both her life and her writings have celebrated the intellect and creativity of women. Her books include "Harping On," "Proses," "Mermaids in the Basement," "The Nearness of You," "Carrying Over" and "Yin," for which she received the Pulitzer Prize in 1985.
She has been poet-in-residence at many universities, including Columbia, Stanford, Princeton and San Jose State. She was a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets until she resigned in protest against the under-representation of women and poets of color. She co-founded Poetry Northwest and later served as the first director of the Literature Program of the National Endowment for the Arts. She is also the editor of the anthology, "100 Great Poems by Women."
The panel members who will comment on Kitzer's influence on poetry are: Jack Foley, Berkeley poet and KPFA radio host; Jackson Wheeler, a Ventura, California, poet and editor of the poetry journal Solo; and Judith Johnson, a poet, fiction writer and performance artist from New York, where she teaches at SUNY Albany and edits the feminist periodical, 13th Moon.
Rounding out the panel will be Petaluma poet Terry Ehret, a founder of Sixteen Rivers Press, who teaches at Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Junior College.
All four panelists were featured in "Carolyn Kizer, Perspectives on her Life and Work" (CavanKerry Press, 2001), a collection of critical prose, interviews, and poetry that pays homage to the enduring influence of one of the most influential poets of our day.
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