Three acclaimed authors to speak on Poetry Night

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.--As a featured highlight of its Fall Arts Celebration, Grand Valley State University will bring to its stage three acclaimed poets -- Jim Harrison, Galway Kinnell, and Dan Gerber -- for an unforgettable evening of poetry and conversation. The event is open to the public free of charge.

Poetry Night will take place on Wednesday, October 15, in the Loosemore Auditorium of Grand Valley's DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton St. in Grand Rapids. The event begins at 7 p.m.; doors open at 6 p.m. Reservations will not be taken; however, RSVPs are requested to determine audience size. People planning to attend are asked to call (616) 331-2180 or e-mail Patricia Clark at [email protected].

Poetry Night features readings by the three poets, followed by an onstage discussion with the authors led by Grand Valley Poet-in-Residence Patricia Clark. Audience questions will be encouraged. A reception and book-signing follow. Books will be available for purchase.

A description of the featured guests follows:

Jim Harrison is a Michigan native and author of seven novels including 'Legends of the Fall' (also a 1994 motion picture), four volumes of novellas, nine collections of poetry including 'The Shape of the Journey,' and a memoir, 'Off to the Side.' He has also published a collection of essays on food, 'The Raw and the Cooked: Adventures of a Roving Gourmand.' Harrison is winner of an NEA grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Spirit of the West Lifetime Achievement Award. His work has been published in 22 languages and has been an international bestseller.

Galway Kinnell is a Pulitzer prize-winning poet and former MacArthur Fellow and state poet of Vermont. Currently chancellor of The Academy of American Poets, Kinnell is author of 'A New Selected Poems' (a finalist for the National Book Award), 'Imperfect Thirst,' and seven other books of poetry. He is a professor of creative writing at New York University.

Dan Gerber, a Michigan native, is winner of the 1992 Michigan Author Award and author of three novels, books of short stories and essays, and six poetry volumes ¿; most recently 'Trying to Catch the Horses,' which won the 1999 first prize for poetry from Forward Magazine. His work has been published in The Nation, The New Yorker, Poetry, The Georgia Review, and Best American Poetry 1999.

Gerber grew up in Fremont, Mich. He has been writer-in-residence at Grand Valley State University and his alma mater, Michigan State University. He and his family live in California and Idaho.

Free parking for Poetry Night is available off Winter Avenue, just west of the DeVos Center.

Grand Valley's Fall Arts Celebration continues in October and November with three Academic Lectures featuring: longtime White House reporter Helen Thomas and Suzanne Geha, Oct. 28; medieval architecture expert Stephen Murray, Nov. 5; and theologian/author Martin Marty, Nov. 12.

The Fall Arts Celebration is sponsored by Mass Mutual Financial Group. Poetry Night is sponsored by Charles and Stella Royce, Progressive AE, and anonymous donors.