Russian and American poets to converge at Stevens in April
HOBOKEN, N.J. — At the end of April, Stevens Institute of Technology will host a major conference on contemporary Russian and American poetry. It features many invited luminaries, including prominent Russian and American poets who will read from their works.
The conference, titled "A New Language: Russian and American Poetry Today," will be held April 28-30 in the Morton-Pierce-Kidde Building Complex on the northeast corner of 6th and River Streets in Hoboken, N.J. The primary information desk will be located in room 211, Pierce Building. All sessions are free and open to the public.
Of particular public interest are a 7:30 p.m. film screening, Letters Not About Love, followed by poetry readings on Friday, April 28 (American poets); and a 7:30 p.m. poetry reading session on Saturday, April 29 (Russian poets). The film screening is in room 216, Pierce Building. Both poetry reading sessions are in room 228, Kidde Building. Further information on the conference is available by calling its organizer, Dr. Edward Foster, at (201) 216-5397.
"This conference is an example of Stevens’ ongoing involvement with the humanities and arts, which are part of the university’s broad educational offerings," says Foster, professor of English and American literature at Stevens.
Friday evening’s program will begin with a screening of Letters Not About Love, a documentary film by director Jacki Ochs that examines the thoughts, lives and cultural idiosyncrasies of the American poet Lyn Hejinian and the distinguished Russian poet Arkadii Dragomoshchenko (who is expected to attend the conference). The film features well-known actress Lili Taylor (Ransom, I Shot Andy Warhol) as the voice of Lyn Hejinian. Emigre Victor Nord, an Emmy Award-winning editor and acting and dialogue coach, reads the letters of Dragomoshchenko in the film.
Readings by distinguished American poets follow the film on Friday evening. Included is poet Jackson Mac Low, winner of this year’s Tanning Prize, the prestigious annual $100,000 award recognizing "outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry." Also included are novelist and poet Lewis Warsh, the publisher of United Artists Books; critic and poet Joseph Lease; award-winning playwright and poet Charles Borkhuis; and poet Cydney Chadwick, editor of the international literary journal Avec Magazine.
Readings by Russian poets are scheduled for Saturday evening. Among the poets expected to participate are Evgeny Bunimovich, Arkadii Dragomoshchenko, Vladimir Druk, Yaroslav Mogutin, Aleksei Parshchikov, Dmitry Volchek and Ivan Zhdanov. The readings in Russian will include translators’ interpretations in English.
The conference also includes readings and sessions for academic critics and scholars on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
According to Foster, who also will be reading from his poetry during the conference, "A New Language: Russian and American Poetry Today" is the first of two related conferences. The second, which Foster and other American and Russian poets will attend, will be held in Moscow on May 26-28.
The conference at Stevens is sponsored by the Stevens Russian/American Cultural Exchange Program and the Stevens Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. The cultural exchange program was established in 1993 primarily to bring Russian poets and poetry to America and American poets to Russia. Generous support has been provided by the Russian Academy of Sciences and the William and Mary Greve Foundation.
(Note to reporters: If you plan to cover this conference, please contact Stevens News Director Cass Bruton-Ward at 201-216-5238 for press parking and logistical information.)
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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