Robert Pinsky, U.S. Poet Laureate, 1997-2000
“Lyric and Public: The Favorite Poem Project”

Thursday, February 1, 2007 | 7:30 pm | Wheeler Auditorium
with introductory remarks by Chancellor Robert Birgeneau

Robert Pinsky’s first two terms as United States Poet Laureate were marked by such visible dynamism, and such national enthusiasm in response, that the Library of Congress appointed him to an unprecedented third term. Throughout his career, Pinsky has been dedicated to identifying and invigorating poetry’s place in the world.

As Poet Laureate, Pinsky became a public ambassador for poetry, founding the Favorite Poem Project, in which thousands of Americans—of varying backgrounds, all ages, and from every state—shared their favorite poems. Pinsky believed that, contrary to stereotype, poetry had a vigorous presence in the American cultural landscape. The project sought to document that presence, giving voice to the American audience for poetry. The original anthologies Americans’ Favorite Poems and Poems to Read, which include letters from project participants, became best-sellers.

Elegant and tough, vividly imaginative, Pinsky’s poems have earned praise for their formal dexterity, unique music, and ambitious range. He is the author of six acclaimed collections of poetry, including Jersey Rain. His collection, The Figured Wheel, was a Pulitzer Prize nominee and received the Lenore Marshall Award and the Ambassador Book Award of the English Speaking Union. His most recent chapbook is entitled First Things to Hand (Sarabande, May 2006). In fall 2007, FSG will publish Pinsky’s next collection of poetry, entitled Gulf Music.

Pinsky’s books about poetry include Poetry and the World, nominated for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award, The Sounds of Poetry, and more recently, Democracy, Culture and the Voice of Poetry. Pinsky contends that, though intimate, poetry addresses cultural needs by communicating a shared set of social meanings, a paradox that becomes part of his effort to demonstrate the complexity of American poetry.

Pinsky’s landmark, and best-selling, translation of The Inferno of Dante received the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Howard Morton Landon Prize for translation. He is also co-translator of The Separate Notebooks, poems by Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz. Pinsky’s prose book, The Life of David, is a lively retelling and examination of the David stories, and includes a wealth of legend as well as scripture (Schocken, September 2005).

The poetry editor for the online magazine Slate, Pinsky has also appeared regularly on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and writes the weekly “Poet’s Choice” column for the Washington Post. Pinsky’s poems appear in magazines such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Threepenny Review, American Poetry Review, and frequently in the Best American Poetry anthologies.

Pinsky teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University. He is most recently the winner of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture’s 2006 Jewish Cultural Achievement Award in Literary Arts.

Robert Pinsky’s appearance is funded by the Koshland Endowment.

Biographical information has been adapted from the Barclay Agency.