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Event Program
MON, APR 01
READINGS
Crystal Dickinson
Ilya Kaminsky
Ada Limón
Patricia Smith
Kevin Young
DISCUSSION
Ilya Kaminsky
Ada Limón
Patricia Smith
Kevin Young
ADDITIONAL POETRY BY
Victoria Chang
Paisley Rekdal
Diane Seuss
There will not be a book signing at this event.
Event Partner:
Crystal Dickinson won the Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 2012 production of Clybourne Park. She subsequently appeared in You Can’t Take It With You on Broadway in 2014, A Raisin in the Sun, Seven Guitars, and Wine in the Wilderness at Two River Theater, Lessons in Survival at the Vineyard Theatre, and The Low Road and Cullud Wattah at The Public Theater. Her film and television credits include The Accidental Wolf, I Origins, The Good Wife, Feed the Beast, New Amsterdam, and recurring roles on The CHI and For Life. Dickinson has taught at Stella Adler Studio, Spelman College, Pace University, Princeton University, the Juilliard School, NYU, University of Illinois, and Seton Hall. In June, Dickinson will star in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean at Two River Theater.
Crystal Dickinson won the Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 2012 production of Clybourne Park. She subsequently appeared in You Can’t Take It With You on Broadway in 2014, A Raisin in the Sun, Seven Guitars, and Wine in the Wilderness at Two River Theater, Lessons in Survival at the Vineyard Theatre, and The Low Road and Cullud Wattah at The Public Theater. Her film and television credits include The Accidental Wolf, I Origins, The Good Wife, Feed the Beast, New Amsterdam, and recurring roles on The CHI and For Life. Dickinson has taught at Stella Adler Studio, Spelman College, Pace University, Princeton University, the Juilliard School, NYU, University of Illinois, and Seton Hall. In June, Dickinson will star in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean at Two River Theater.
Ilya Kaminsky is the author of several acclaimed collections of poetry, including Deaf Republic, Dancing in Odessa, and Musica Humana. In addition to his writing, he has edited several anthologies, such as The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry, A God in the House: Poets Talk About Faith, Gossip and Metaphysics: Russian Modernist Poets and Prose, and In the Shape of the Human Body I Am Visiting the Earth: Poems from Far and Wide. He has received many accolades for his work, including Poetry magazine's Levinson Prize, the Pushcart Prize, the Whiting Writers Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Metcalf Award, the Dorset Prize, a Ruth Lilly Fellowship, Foreword magazine’s Best Poetry Book of the Year, and he was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry. In the late 1990s, Kaminsky co-founded Poets for Peace, an organization that sponsors poetry readings in the United States and abroad. He has also worked as a Law Clerk at the National Immigration Law Center and at Bay Area Legal Aid.
Ilya Kaminsky is the author of several acclaimed collections of poetry, including Deaf Republic, Dancing in Odessa, and Musica Humana. In addition to his writing, he has edited several anthologies, such as The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry, A God in the House: Poets Talk About Faith, Gossip and Metaphysics: Russian Modernist Poets and Prose, and In the Shape of the Human Body I Am Visiting the Earth: Poems from Far and Wide. He has received many accolades for his work, including Poetry magazine's Levinson Prize, the Pushcart Prize, the Whiting Writers Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Metcalf Award, the Dorset Prize, a Ruth Lilly Fellowship, Foreword magazine’s Best Poetry Book of the Year, and he was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry. In the late 1990s, Kaminsky co-founded Poets for Peace, an organization that sponsors poetry readings in the United States and abroad. He has also worked as a Law Clerk at the National Immigration Law Center and at Bay Area Legal Aid.
Ada Limón is the author of six books of poetry, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her book Bright Dead Things was nominated for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Her most recent book of poetry, The Hurting Kind, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and wrote a poem that will be engraved on NASA's Europa Clipper Spacecraft that will be launched to the second moon of Jupiter in October 2024. As the 24th Poet Laureate of The United States, her signature project is called You Are Here and focuses on how poetry can help connect us to the natural world. She will serve as Poet Laureate until the spring of 2025. In October of 2023 she was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship.
Ada Limón is the author of six books of poetry, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her book Bright Dead Things was nominated for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Her most recent book of poetry, The Hurting Kind, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship and wrote a poem that will be engraved on NASA's Europa Clipper Spacecraft that will be launched to the second moon of Jupiter in October 2024. As the 24th Poet Laureate of The United States, her signature project is called You Are Here and focuses on how poetry can help connect us to the natural world. She will serve as Poet Laureate until the spring of 2025. In October of 2023 she was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship.
Patricia Smith, recipient of the Ruth Lilly Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, is the author of Unshuttered, a volume of dramatic monologues accompanied by images of 19th-century African Americans. Incendiary Art (winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the NAACP Image Award, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize); Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah (winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets); Blood Dazzler (a National Book Award finalist); Africans in America, companion volume to the award-winning PBS series, and the children’s book Janna and the Kings. Her work has been published in the anthologies Best American Poetry, Best American Essays, and Best American Mystery Stories. Smith has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry from the Sewanee Review, residencies at the Macdowell Colony and Yaddo, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is also a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, the most successful poet in the competition’s history. Smith is a professor in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, a former Distinguished Professor for the City University of New York, an Academy of American Poets Chancellor, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Patricia Smith, recipient of the Ruth Lilly Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, is the author of Unshuttered, a volume of dramatic monologues accompanied by images of 19th-century African Americans. Incendiary Art (winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the NAACP Image Award, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize); Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah (winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets); Blood Dazzler (a National Book Award finalist); Africans in America, companion volume to the award-winning PBS series, and the children’s book Janna and the Kings. Her work has been published in the anthologies Best American Poetry, Best American Essays, and Best American Mystery Stories. Smith has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry from the Sewanee Review, residencies at the Macdowell Colony and Yaddo, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is also a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, the most successful poet in the competition’s history. Smith is a professor in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, a former Distinguished Professor for the City University of New York, an Academy of American Poets Chancellor, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Kevin Young is the author of fifteen books of poetry and prose, including Stones, shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize; Blue Laws: Selected &; Uncollected Poems 1995–2015, longlisted for the National Book Award; Book of Hours, winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets; Jelly Roll: a blues, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry; and The Grey Album, winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize and the PEN Open Book Award, a New York Times Notable Book, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. A chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Young is the poetry editor of The New Yorker, where he hosts the poetry podcast. He lives and works in Washington, D.C.
Kevin Young is the author of fifteen books of poetry and prose, including Stones, shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize; Blue Laws: Selected &; Uncollected Poems 1995–2015, longlisted for the National Book Award; Book of Hours, winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets; Jelly Roll: a blues, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry; and The Grey Album, winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize and the PEN Open Book Award, a New York Times Notable Book, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. A chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Young is the poetry editor of The New Yorker, where he hosts the poetry podcast. He lives and works in Washington, D.C.
Victoria Chang’s latest book of poems, With My Back to the World, is forthcoming in 2024. Her latest book of poetry is The Trees Witness Everything. Her book of nonfiction, Dear Memory, was published in 2021. OBIT, her prior book of poems, received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Chowdhury International Prize in Literature. Chang is the Bourne Chair in poetry at Georgia Tech and current director of Poetry@Tech.
Victoria Chang’s latest book of poems, With My Back to the World, is forthcoming in 2024. Her latest book of poetry is The Trees Witness Everything. Her book of nonfiction, Dear Memory, was published in 2021. OBIT, her prior book of poems, received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Chowdhury International Prize in Literature. Chang is the Bourne Chair in poetry at Georgia Tech and current director of Poetry@Tech.
Paisley Rekdal is the author of four books of nonfiction and seven books of poetry, including Nightingale, Appropriate: A Provocation, and, most recently, West: A Translation. She is the editor and creator of the digital archive projects West, Mapping Literary Utah, and Mapping Salt Lake City. Her work has received the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship, Pushcart Prizes, the Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and various state arts council awards. The former Utah Poet Laureate, she teaches at the University of Utah, where she is a distinguished professor.
Paisley Rekdal is the author of four books of nonfiction and seven books of poetry, including Nightingale, Appropriate: A Provocation, and, most recently, West: A Translation. She is the editor and creator of the digital archive projects West, Mapping Literary Utah, and Mapping Salt Lake City. Her work has received the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship, Pushcart Prizes, the Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and various state arts council awards. The former Utah Poet Laureate, she teaches at the University of Utah, where she is a distinguished professor.
Diane Seuss is the author of six books of poetry. frank: sonnets was the winner of a Los Angeles Times Book Award, as well as the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Four-Legged Girl was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open received the Juniper Prize. Her sixth collection, Modern Poetry, was published in March 2024. Seuss was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2020, as well as the John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2021. She was raised by a single mother in rural Michigan, which she continues to call home.
Diane Seuss is the author of six books of poetry. frank: sonnets was the winner of a Los Angeles Times Book Award, as well as the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Four-Legged Girl was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open received the Juniper Prize. Her sixth collection, Modern Poetry, was published in March 2024. Seuss was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2020, as well as the John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2021. She was raised by a single mother in rural Michigan, which she continues to call home.
Per Ilya's request, we are including the text of the poems he will be reading here.
This program is made possible thanks to the generous support of Susan Bay Nimoy, Estate of Douglas M. Matheson, Seedlings Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, MacMillan Family Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Charina Endowment Fund, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, PECO Foundation, Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, Mustang Foundation, Michael Tuch Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, and The Isambard Kingdom Brunel Society of North America.
This program is also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
Symphony Space thanks our generous supporters, including our Board of Directors, Producers Circle, and members, who make our programs possible with their annual support.
Kathy Landau Executive Director
Peg Wreen Managing Director
Isaiah Sheffer*
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1988)
Artistic Director (1988-2010)
Founding Artistic Director (2010-2012)
Allan Miller
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1988)
Jennifer Brennan Director of Literary Programs
Drew Richardson Lead Producer of Literary Programs
Vivienne Woodward Producer of Literary Programs
Mary Shimkin Director of Broadcast & Literary Initiatives
Matthew Love Consultant for Literary Programs
Magdalene Wrobleski Literary Assistant
Sophia Raimondi Literary Intern
Lulu Chatterjee Literary Intern
*in memoriam