PHILADELPHIA (November 7, 2008) -- Saint Joseph’s University will host a poetry reading on Nov. 20 for the English Department’s Writing Series. Distinguished poets Molly Peacock and Elizabeth Spires will read their work in the Forum Theatre of Campion Student Center at 7:30 p.m.
Peacock is a noted poet and creative nonfiction writer who has published six books of poetry. Her most recent poetry collection, The Second Blush, was released in June of 2008 and recounts the emotions spurred by midlife marriage.
Her other poetic works include “Cornucopia: New & Selected Poems,” “Original Love,” “Take Heart,” “And Live Apart,” and “Raw Heaven.” Peacock has also written a personal memoir entitled “Paradise, Piece by Piece,” in which she reflects on the choice to have or not to have children.
Peacock’s works have appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, and The Best of the Best American Poetry.
Currently, Peacock is on a fellowship from the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the City University of New York Graduate Center.
Spires, both a poet and a children’s book author, has published six poetry collections.
Her most recent collection, The Wave-Maker, was published in July of 2008 and deals with topics such as death, illness, age and religion. Her other poetry collections include Globe, Swan’s Island, Annonciade, Worldlings and Now the Green Blade Rises
Spires work has appeared in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, The New Criterion and in various anthologies. She received a Whiting Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Amy Lowell Travelling Poetry Scholarship and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.
She is currently a professor of English at Goucher College in Baltimore, Md.
Background: Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851, Saint Joseph's University advances the professional and personal ambitions of men and women by providing a demanding, yet supportive, educational experience. One of only 139 schools with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter and AACSB business school accreditation, Saint Joseph's is home to 4,200 full-time undergraduates and 3,100 graduate, part-time and doctoral students. Steeped in the 450-year Jesuit tradition of scholarship and service, Saint Joseph's was recently named to the 2007 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for General Community Service. The University strives to be recognized as the preeminent Catholic comprehensive university in the Northeast
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Contact: Office of University Communications, 610-660-1222, ucomm@sju.edu