Katonah Poetry Series with Gregory Djanikian

On Sunday, October 4, 2020 the Katonah Poetry Series (KPS) is honored to present Gregory Djanikian, introduced by KPS Poet Advisor, Billy Collins.

Of Djanikian’s most recent book, Sojourners of the In-Between, Lawrence Raab writes: “One of the most striking features of Djanikian’s lithe and vigorous poems is their refusal to be glum. They don’t ignore grief, they just keep surprising themselves into wonder, then praise – how grateful we might feel for ‘this everything / of being alive together.’ Funny, sad, lyrical, meditative – sometimes all at once – these poems happily reveal the many different kinds of truths the world offers.”

Born in Alexandria, Egypt, of Armenian parentage, Djanikian came to the US at the age of eight after his family’s livelihood was lost in the tumult of political change. A graduate of the Syracuse University writing program, Djanikian was the Director of Creative Writing at the University of Pennsylvania for many years. In honor of his dedication to his students, the Gregory Djanikian Scholars Program has been established in his name. Djianikian lives outside of Philadelphia with his wife, artist Alysa Bennett.

In his recent interview with KPS’s Ann van Buren, Djanikian expresses the hope that people “find the sense of joy about life that the poems present.” Djanikian is the author of seven collections of poetry and is the recipient of many awards and prizes. His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, The American Scholar, Boulevard, The Georgia Review, The Iowa Review, Poetry, Poetry Northwest, Shenandoah, TriQuarterly, and numerous other periodicals and anthologies.

Zoom will open at 3:45 p.m. for the reading, which begins at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 4th, 2020. An audience Q&A follows. The Zoom link is posted here: https://tinyurl.com/djanikian.

Suggested donation is $5 for adults, students free.  We appreciate your donations of any amount; they enable us to pay our poets as they deserve.

You can donate via PayPal: http://katonahpoetry.com/donations/

Or send us a donation by check, care of the Katonah Village Library, 26 Bedford Road, Katonah, New York 10536.

For further information and to read our exclusive KPS poet interview, conducted by poet Ann van Buren, please visit www.katonahpoetry.com.