September 30, 2009 | New York City College of Technology
Brooklyn, NY — Internationally-acclaimed poet, memoirist and artist Lorna Goodison will give a reading of her work at New York City College of Technology (City Tech), on Tuesday, October 20, 1 to 2:15 p.m. in the Atrium Amphitheatre, 300 Jay Street (at Tillary), Downtown Brooklyn. Admission is free. For more info, contact City Tech Prof. Camille Goodison, 718.260.4973/cgoodison@citytech.cuny.edu.
Born in Jamaica, Goodison is the author of several books, including the memoir From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her Island (Harper Collins/Amistad, 2007), which won the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, one of Canada’s largest literary prizes. The New York Times Book Review called the book “captivating.”
Her work has been featured in the major anthologies and collections of contemporary poetry published in the United States, Europe and the West Indies, including The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, HarperCollins World Reader, and Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry among others. She has also published two collections of short stories.
Goodison, who teaches poetry at the University of Michigan, has received many writing awards. Among them are the Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Americas Region), the Musgrave Gold Medal from Jamaica and the Prime Minister of Jamaica’s Medal for Services to Literature.
Caribbean poet and artist Derek Walcott, a Nobel Laureate in Literature, has said of her work: Goodison [has] fought for the confidence of claiming the familiar, of transfiguring it by the fury of her humility. And what is the rare quality that has gone out of poetry that these marvelous poems restore? Joy.”
In addition to being a central figure at poetry festivals in England, Canada, South Africa, the U.S., Germany and Ireland, among others, she has given readings at Cambridge University and the Sorbonne, Paris, delivered the Dame Nita Barrow Memorial Lecture at the University of the West Indies in Barbados and participated in a celebration of 50 years of poetry at Radcliffe’s Bunting Institute, Harvard University.
Goodison will conduct a master class for City Tech faculty and students following the reading. Three days later (Oct. 23), Juilliard will present a special performance of her poetry set to music.
A full professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Goodison divides her time between Jamaica, Canada and the U.S.
New York City College of Technology (City Tech) of The City University of New York is the largest public college of technology in New York State. The College enrolls 15,400 students in 60 baccalaureate, associate and specialized certificate programs. An additional 15,000 annually enroll in continuing education and workforce development programs. Located at 300 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn, City Tech is at the MetroTech Center academic and commercial complex, convenient to public transportation.
For more information, contact Michele Forsten, mforsten@citytech.cuny.edu/718.260.5979.