We are back from a great week of poetry and spoken word at the 2012 Albany Word Fest and ready ready to jump back into things. This coming Saturday will be the perfect way to do it, because the Northeast Poetry Center will be featuring poet Barry Wallenstein.
Barry Wallenstein will appear as the Northeast Poetry Center’s Distinguished Visiting Poet for the spring of 2012. He will perform accompanied by bass-player Tony de Cicco on April 28 at 4 p.m. at 7 West Street, Warwick. Enter by the door on the right side of the building. in the rear room. Reception to follow. The event is free and open to the public.
Wallenstein is the author of seven collections of poetry, the most recent being Drastic Dislocations: New and Selected Poems (New York Quarterly Books). His poetry has appeared in over 100 journals, including Ploughshares, The Nation, Centennial Review, and American Poetry Review.
Among his awards are the Poetry Society of America’s Lyric Poetry Prize and several Pushcart Poetry Prize Nominations. He has had resident fellowships at The Macdowell Colony, Hawthornden Castle in Scotland, Fundación Valparaiso in Spain, and Casa Zia Lina on Elba, Italy.
He is a leading practitioner of the presentation of poetry in collaboration with jazz. He has made seven recordings of his poetry with jazz, the most recent being Lucky These Days, forthcoming from Cadence Jazz Records in April 2012. A previous CD, Euphoria Ripens, was listed among the “Best New Releases” in the journal, All About Jazz.
As Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the City University of New York (now Emeritus), he founded and directed the Poetry Outreach Center, and for 35 years coordinated the all-inclusive citywide Annual Spring Poetry Festival. He remains an active advisor and participant in the program. He also is an editor of the American Book Review. His 1971 analytical text Visions & Revisions: The Poets’ Practice has been reissued in a new and expanded edition.
Previous Distinguished Visiting Poets have included Edward Sanders, Bob Holman, and Janine Pommy Vega. In addition to this program which bring nationally-known writers to Warwick, free to the public, the Northeast Poetry Center sponsors three terms a year of poetry writing workshops, publishes the Wawayanda Review, and offers numerous other readings and lectures, including twelve readings in the associated Poetry on the Loose Reading/Performance Series.
This project is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts’ Decentralization Program administered by Arts in Orange.
