Poet Ed Roberson named Author In Residence

By Sierra Smith, Communications Specialist

Hassenfeld Library and USN's English Department are pleased to announce renowned poet Ed Roberson will visit Edgehill in February as the school's Author in Residence program returns.

"I'm thrilled that our students will get to hear from a poet who has had such an interesting and varied career. It's a great way for them to see what it looks like for someone to lead a life dedicated to his art, and especially exciting now that Roberson has just been named to the Board of Chancellors for the Academy of American Poets, which puts him in pretty exalted company," Interim Library Director Kate Pritchard shared. "I hope that, after talking with him, our students will feel inspired to follow their own creative paths, whatever they might be."

Roberson’s most recent book, “Asked What Has Changed,” is a finalist for the 2022 Griffin Poetry Prize. Originally from Pittsburgh, Roberson now lives in Chicago, where he has taught at the University of Chicago, Columbia College, and Northwestern University. His various influences and themes include the environment, spirituality, visual art, music, and his extensive travels, including an odyssey across America and back on a motorcycle. He published his first poetry collection in 1970 and has won numerous prizes for his many books since then including the 2020 Jackson Poetry Prize. 

The judges for this prize praised him as "both scholar and jazz-like innovator" and declared that "Roberson’s poems work a way into your heart and consciousness, because he is a visionary of luminous detail, of histories, of what he has felt and lived and observed." 

 

While on campus, Roberson will spend time working with students in High School English and creative writing courses. Additionally, Hassenfeld Library will host an Evening of Poetry with Roberson on Monday, February 13 at 5:30 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with Roberson and learn more about his work during this free, public event. Registration is open now through USN Evening Classes.