BLACK NATURE: A Symposium on the First Anthology of Nature Writing by African American Poets ~ UC Berkeley, March 4-5, 2010
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Black Nature:
A Symposium on the First Anthology of Nature Writing by African American Poets
March 4th and 5th 2010
To RSVP, click here, then scroll down
Locations
The Alphonse Berber Gallery
Maude Fife Room in Wheeler Hall
Lipman Room in Barrows Hall
A two-day event at the UC Berkeley campus will celebrate the publication of the first-ever anthology of nature writing by African American poets. The volume, entitled Black Nature, was published by the University of Georgia Press in December 2009. The editor of the anthology is the poet, Prof. Camille Dungy, of San Francisco State University. This publication of Black Nature is a significant event in American letters. The natural world has a long history as a topic in American literature, but all previous discussion of nature writing has focused on the work of white authors. Nature writing, as a literary category, has continued to exist as a white category; the tables of contents of national and regional anthologies bear this out. Black Nature, which includes the work of 93 writers, reaches back as far as Phillis Wheatley, and it extends through the modernist examples of Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert Hayden to the contemporary avant-garde work of Clarence Major and Harryette Mullen. Panelists are contributors to Black Nature — including the writers Harryette Mullen, Ed Roberson, Evie Shockley, Natasha Tretheway, and Al Young — who will read from their work and participate in public discussions on the literary and environmental issues raised by the new anthology.
Thursday, March 4
12:10pm – 12:50 pm ~ “Lunch Poems”
Location: The Alphonse Berber Gallery
2546 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA
Speaker: Prof. Natasha Trethewey, Emory University
7 pm ~ Poetry Readings
Location: The Alphonse Berber Gallery 2546 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA
Poet Panelists:
Mr. Ed Roberson, poet
Prof. Natasha Trethewey, Emory University
Al Young, California poet laureate emeritus
Friday, March 5
2 pm – 4:30 pm ~ Black Nature Symposium
Location: The Lipman Room, 8th Floor Barrows Hall
UC Berkeley campus
Hosts: Prof. C.S. Giscombe, UC Berkeley; Prof. Robert Hass, UC Berkeley; Prof. Camille Dungy, SFSU;
Discussion Panelists:
Prof. Carolyn Finney, UC Berkeley; Prof. Harryette Mullen, UCLA; Mr. Ed Roberson, poet; Prof. Carl Phillips, Washington University; Prof. Evie Shockley, Rutgers University; Al Young, California poet laureate emeritus
5 pm – 6 pm ~ Hospitality Reception:
Wine and Cheese
Black Nature anthologies available for purchase and autograph
7 pm ~ Evening Poetry Readings
Location: The Maude Fife Room, Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley
Poet Panelists: Prof. Harryette Mullen, UCLA Prof. Evie Shockley, Rutgers University Prof. Carl Phillips, Washington University
Click here for more information on guest speakers and panelists
The Black Nature Events have been generously underwritten, in part, by
the Lipman Family Foundation and
the Townsend Center for the Humanities.
Sponsored by:
The Berkeley Institute of the Environment
The UC Berkeley Department of English
San Francisco State University
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