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Andrea Ciccarelli
College Arts and Humanities Institute
aciccare@indiana.edu
812-855-6029

Last modified: Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Former U.S. Poet Laureate to visit IU Bloomington for talk, poetry reading

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2008

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Robert Hass, the former U.S. Poet Laureate and a recipient of a MacArthur Genius Fellowship, will present a talk and poetry reading at Indiana University Bloomington, April 7 (Monday), as a guest of IU's College Arts and Humanities Institute. The event is at 5 p.m. in the Indiana Memorial Union's Solarium, which is located next to Alumni Hall.

Robert Hass

Photo by: Margaretta Mitchell

Robert Hass

Print-Quality Photo

A recent Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Hass published his newest book Time and Materials in 2007, and it won that year's National Book Award. In addition to his prize-winning poetry, Hass is known for his environmental activism, linking literary and environmental education in his outreach efforts during his time as poet laureate from 1995 to 1997 and since.

Hass is the founder of River of Words, an organization that promotes environmental and arts education in affiliation with the Library of Congress Center for the Book. Among the many published works of Robert Hass are Sun Under Wood: New Poems (1996), Human Wishes (1989), Praise (1979), and Field Guide (1973, Yale Younger Poets Series).

Hass also has co-translated several volumes of poetry with Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz, including Facing the River (1995), and is the author or editor of several other collections of essays and translations, including The Essential Haiku (1994) and Twentieth Century Pleasures: Prose on Poetry (1984). He was named a MacArthur Genius Fellow in 1984.

"We are excited by Robert Hass' upcoming visit," said Andrea Ciccarelli, professor of French and Italian, and director of the College Arts and Humanities Institute. "He is a truly gifted writer and speaker, and his term as poet laureate set a new standard for community engagement, bringing poetry to civic and business communities throughout the U.S."

Hass is a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, and his columns on poetry appear regularly in the Washington Post. His visit to IU Bloomington is sponsored by the College Arts and Humanities Institute and also is supported by the Office of the Provost. Hass' talk is free and open to the public, and it will be followed by a book signing and refreshments. For more information, please see https://www.indiana.edu/~cahi or phone 856-1169.