October 21, 2009 - 8:47am
Newly appointed Poet Laureate of Britain, Carol Ann Duffy, is
Vancouver Island University’s (VIU) 2009 Ralph Gustafson Chair of
Poetry.
Ms. Duffy will visit VIU’s Nanaimo campus October 21 and 22 to engage in a public celebration of poetry.
“This
has been such an exhilarating time for me, planning for Ms. Duffy's
visit,” said Craig Tapping, Chair of VIU’s Gustafson Poetry Trust.
“Students and faculty are excited and eager to meet her, and hear her
read. Her work is funny, ironic, witty, deeply provocative and
intensely emotional. She is, quite simply, one of the strongest, best
poets writing in English in the world today. This public reading is a
momentous occasion for VIU.”
Duffy is a poet, playwright, and
freelance writer who currently holds the prestigious position as
Britain’s top poet. The Poet Laureateship is a 10-year appointment by
Queen Elizabeth.
Ms. Duffy is Professor of Contemporary
Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University and Creative Director
of the Manchester Writing School, based in the university’s Department
of English. She is also a social activist engaged with issues in
education, the arts and the environment. One of her more recent
projects, for example, is to collect and anthologize poems by a myriad
of writers concerned with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Scottish-born
Ms. Duffy is the first woman ever to be Poet Laureate, and her work is
considered by some critics to herald a Scottish Renaissance.
While
at VIU, Ms. Duffy will work with creative writing students and read
selections of her work at a student centred event on October 21 at the
Nanaimo campus, Building 355, Room 211, at 1:30 pm. She will answer
questions from the audience about her poetry, her career decisions and
her aesthetic opinions and beliefs.
Ms. Duffy will read
selections from her work at a free public lecture and poetry reading
Thursday, October 22 at VIU’s Malaspina Theatre, Building 310, at 7:30
pm. She will choose selections mostly from two of her books, Rapture
(2005) and New Selected Poems 1984-2004 (2004).
Copies of
some of Ms. Duffy’s books will be available for purchase and signing in
the Campus Bookstore before and after the reading.
There will
also be a signed, limited edition broadsheet of an as-yet unpublished,
new poem which Ms. Duffy has generously offered to the Gustafson Trust
for sale to the public. This is a genuine collector’s item, and will be
available only through VIU’s Gustafson Poetry Trust.
The
reading will be followed by a catered reception. Both events are free
and open to students, staff and faculty, and the public.
Funding
for these events is provided by the Ralph Gustafson Poetry Trust, the
Faculty of Arts and Humanities at VIU, the Departments of English and
Creative Writing, and the Vancouver Writers’ Festival.
The
Ralph and Betty Gustafson Trust was established at VIU (formerly
Malaspina University-College) in 1998 from the estate of the late Ralph
Gustafson, one of Canada’s pre-eminent poets. The Trust endows an
annual Chair of Poetry at VIU.
For further information,
please contact Craig Tapping, Chair of the Gustafson Poetry Trust at
(250) 753-3245, local 2125 or Craig.Tapping@viu.ca.
Tags: In the Community
