LITERATURE
UH-Manoa literary series kicks off with Merwin reading
Maui-based poet W.S. Merwin will inaugurate his friend Marjorie Putnam Sinclair Edel's "Reading Series" on Wednesday night with selections from his "Migration: New and Selected Poems," winner of a 2005 National Book Award.
COURTESY PHOTO
W.S. Merwin, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, will read his poetry to kick off the Edel Reading Series at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
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"Marjorie was one of the university English Department's premier authors and promoters of local literature," said Stephen Goldsberry, author and English professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
"And Merwin ... he's just one of the most honored poets in the country and widely recognized as one of the top poets of our time. Plus, he's lived on Maui for the past 30 years, and he's one of America's greatest literary figures."
The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Hawaii Institute for Geophysics Auditorium on the UH-Manoa campus, and is free and open to the public.
Also known as an environmental activist, Merwin was awarded the Yale Younger Poets prize in 1952 by no less than W.H. Auden. He later won a Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Tanning Prize, Bolingen Prize and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
Last year, he published a memoir, "Summer Doorways," a fresh volume of poems called "Present Company" and the award-winning "Migration."
This is the first event in the Edel Reading Series -- "It's kind of cool that Merwin is doing the first one, as Marjorie and he were great friends," said Goldsberry. It will honor Edel's contributions as a poet, novelist and teacher.
The widow of former UH President Gregg Sinclair died last summer at age 91. She created a fund dedicated to engaging authors and students in spirited discussions and readings from their works.
Call 956-3085 or e-mail gayle@hawaii.edu.