Seat in the Shade Poetry Series: Judith Ortiz Cofer, Stephen Corey, Jericho Brown and many others!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Writer: Michael Childs, 706-542-5889, mdchilds@uga.edu
Contact: Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, 706-714-6474, cahnmann@uga.edu

UGA College of Education professor to host Summer Poetry Reading Series at The Globe June 6-13

Athens, Ga. – A week of poetry reading and discussion of the poetic craft featuring four top Georgia poets will be hosted by University of Georgia College of Education professor Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor June 6-13 at The Globe in downtown Athens.

This is the second year for the event titled, “Seat in the Shade: A Summer Poetry Reading Series,” and will feature poets Judith Ortiz Cofer, Stephen Corey, Jenny Gropp Hess, Laura Newbern, Jericho Brown, Rebecca Baggett and Tamara Madison each night beginning at 7 p.m. The finale on Friday, June 13 titled, “Poetry by and for Educators: Readings from the Collective,” will feature UGA educators and students. The Globe is located at 199 N. Lumpkin St., Athens.

Cahnmann-Taylor, a professor in the department of language and literacy education and founder of Poetry by and for Educators, developed the summer poetry reading series a year ago in conjunction with her Advanced Poetry for Educators graduate class.

Here is a brief description of each featured poet:

Judith Ortiz Cofer, UGA Regents and Franklin Professor of English and Creative Writing, Thursday, June 6
Judith Ortiz Cofer is the author of many books and poetry collections over the last 30 years. Her most recent works include the novel If I Could Fly (2011), the children’s books Animal Jamboree: Latino Folktales (2012), The Poet Upstairs (2012), and ¡A Bailar! (2011). Her work has appeared in The Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, Southern Review, Glamour, and other journals as well as numerous textbooks and anthologies including: Best American Essays 1991, The Norton Book of Women's Lives, The Norton Introduction to Literature, The Norton Introduction to Poetry, The Heath Anthology of American Literature, The Pushcart Prize, and the O. Henry Prize Stories. She was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2010.

Stephen Corey and Jenny Gropp Hess, The Georgia Review, Friday June 7
Stephen Corey has been the editor of The Georgia Review since 2008. He joined the GR staff in 1983 as assistant editor and subsequently served as associate editor and acting editor. He has published nine collections of poems, including There Is No Finished World (2003). His poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in dozens of periodicals; and he has co-edited three books in as many genres, including (with Warren Slesinger) Spreading the Word: Editors on Poetry (2001). Over the past 25 years, he has served as poet-in-residence or visiting poet/editor for numerous writing programs, conferences and other literary gatherings. Currently he is editor-in-residence for the Rainier Writing Workshop low-residency MFA program at Pacific Lutheran University. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Florida.

Jenny Gropp Hess, the former editor of Black Warrior Review, joined The Georgia Review staff as managing editor in the summer of 2012. At The Georgia Review she oversees production of the journal and participates in editorial planning and decision-making. She reads manuscripts, works closely with authors in editing all accepted work, directs art selection and edits the website. In addition to her editorial pursuits, she has taught creative writing at the university and high school levels, worked in academic administration, and enjoyed extensive travel and work abroad. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Alabama and a B.A. in English literature and creative writing from the University of Montana. Her poetry and prose can be found in or is forthcoming from Colorado Review, Seneca Review, Best New Poets 2012, American Letters & Commentary, Seattle Review, Denver Quarterly, Unsaid Magazine, DIAGRAM, and Columbia: A Journal of Literature & Art, among others.

Laura Newbern, Monday, June 10
Laura Newbern is the author of Love and the Eye, selected by Claudia Rankine for the Kore Press First Book Award. She is also the recipient of a Writers Award from the Rona Jaffe Foundation. Her poems have appeared inPoetry, The Atlantic, Black Warrior Review, and elsewhere. She teaches at Georgia College and serves as the Poetry Editor of Arts & Letters.

Jericho Brown, Tuesday, June 11
Jericho Brown earned his Ph.D. in literature and creative writing from the University of Houston. He also holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of New Orleans and graduated magna cum laude from Dillard University in 1998. He was a Teaching Fellow in the English department at the University of Houston from 2002-07 and a Visiting Professor at San Diego State University's M.F.A. Program in spring 2009. He has also taught at numerous conferences and workshops including the Iowa Summer Writing Festival at the University of Iowa. He currently teaches creative writing as an assistant professor of English at the University of San Diego.

His first collection of poetry, Please, won the 2009 American Book Award. Brown’s poems are living on the page, and they give the reader that much: a sense of having been alive fully, if only for a duration of 75 pages of this volume. Indeed, Brown's first book is one of those rare things: a debut of a master poet. Brown is the recipient of  the 2009-10 Bunting Fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University and a Whiting Writer's Award. He was a finalist for the 2009 Lambda Literary Award and Paterson Poetry Prize and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He has also received two travel fellowships to the Krakow Poetry Seminar in Poland.

Tamara Madison, Wednesday, June 12

Tamara J. Madison is a writer, poet and performer currently living in Atlanta.  Her creative and critical works have been published in numerous anthologies and journals including:  Poetry International, Tidal Basin Review, aaduna, and Web Del Sol Review of Books. She is an M.F.A. graduate of New England College and has taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University and Hudson County Community College in New Jersey.  

 Poetry by and for Educators, Thursday, June 13--Readings from the Collective
A night of readings from UGA educators and poets led by their professor Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor.

# #