We will celebrate the life & work of poet & translator Pierre Joris at the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center on July 17, 2025 at 7:30PM. Instead of our usual featured reader with an open mic for community writers we will have an extended open mic for community writers to remember Pierre’s presence in Albany by reading his poems, his translations, our own poems honoring Pierre or telling tall-tales. The Social Justice Center is at 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY.
Born on Bastille Day in 1946 in Strasbourg, France, Pierre Joris was raised in Luxembourg & moved between the US, Europe & North Africa, publishing more than 60 books of poetry, essays, anthologies, plays & translations. Pierre taught poetry and poetics at the University at Albany from 1992 to 2012, living in Albany for most of that time, before moving to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn with his wife, painter, singer & multimedia artist Nicole Peyrafitte. He was one of the foremost translators of avant-garde poetry into both French and English. Among his many significant contributions, he translated several works of the Romanian-born French poet and Holocaust survivor, Paul Celan. He also co-edited with Jerome Rothenberg the anthologies Poems for the Millennium, volumes 1 & 2, as well as volume 4 with Habib Tengour.
A reading by a local or regional poet/writer has been held since July 2006 each third Thursday at the Social Justice Center. The event includes an open mic for audience members to read. Sign-up starts at 7:00PM, with the reading beginning at 7:30. The host of the readings is Albany poet and photographer Dan Wilcox. The suggested donation is $5.00, which helps support this and other poetry programs of the Poetry Motel Foundation, and the work of the Social Justice Center.
For more information about this event contact Dan Wilcox, 518-482-0262; e-mail: [email protected]
The Social Justice Center, founded in 1981, is a non-profit organization working for progressive social change through education, community building and collective action. The center advances the struggles against racism and for peace and justice. For further information about the SJC call 518-434-4037.
