The Pearl Hogrefe Visiting Writer Series is partnering with the to feature two invited poets, Lee Ann Roripaugh & Indigo Moor, for events on Friday, September 13th
Informal Craft Lecture
2:00 – 3:30 PM
Ross 212
Signal Poetry Festival Reading, featuring poets, Indigo Moor & Lee Ann Roripaugh
7:00 PM
Ames Public Library
Lee Ann Roripaugh is the author of five collections of poems. Her first collection, Beyond Heart Mountain, was selected by Ishmael Reed as a National Poetry Series winner. Her second, Year of the Snake, was named winner of the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award. Her third collection, On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year, was lauded as “masterful” and a “gorgeous canticle” (Maura Stanton). Her fourth, Dandarians, was described as “a work of beauty and resilience” (Srikanth Reddy). Her fifth collection is tsunami vs. the fukushima 50. Roripaugh has received an Archibald Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship, the Frederick Manfred Award from the Western Literature Association, the Randall Jarrell International Poetry Prize, and an Academy of American Poets prize. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of South Dakota Review and directs the creative writing program at the University of South Dakota, as well as being the state’s Poet Laureate. She resides in Vermillion.
Poet Laureate of Sacramento, Indigo Moor is a poet, playwright, and fiction writer. His first book of poetry, Tap-Root, was published by Main Street Rag’s in their Editor’s Select Series. His second book of poetry, Through the Stonecutter’s Window, won Northwestern University Press’s Cave Canem prize. His third book, In the Room of Thirsts & Hungers, was also an Editor’s Select choice from Main Street Rag. Three of his short plays, Harvest, Shuffling, and The Red and Yellow Quartet debuted at the 60 Million Plus Theatre’s Spring Playwright’s festival. His full-length stage play, Live! at the Excelsior, was a finalist for the Images Theatre Playwright Award and has been optioned for a full-length film. A graduate of the Stonecoast MFA Program at the University of Southern Maine, Indigo Moor is a Cave Canem Fellow, an advisory board member for the Sacramento Poetry Center, a resident artist at 916 ink, and a graduate member of the Artist’s Residency Institute for Teaching Artists.
Sponsors: MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment, Humanities Iowa, Pearl Hogrefe Fund, Department of English, Ames Public Library Friends Foundation
ADDITIONAL SIGNAL POETRY FESTIVAL EVENTS
Work of MFA Graduate Students Featured in Signal Poetry Festival Installation
The exhibit will open during the Signal Poetry Festival’s evening performances.
Title of Exhibition: “Welcome to Iowa, Letters to Carps and Other Immigrants”
Description: MFA student, Kartika Budhwar’s essay, “Welcome to Iowa: Letters to Carps and Other Immigrants” is a series of letter-poems written to invasive and non-native plant species in exploration of the immigrant’s experience in Iowa. Curator Crystal Stone brought together several artists to present an immersive and visual representation of five poems from the work. Watercolor paintings by Keygan Sands and Jane DeGeneffe which will be featured alongside the selections. An immersive avant-garde video featuring Budwar’s prose and poetry and life and an interactive history of immigration in Iowa will both be on display.
Sponsors: Ames Public Library, supported by the Ames Public Library Friends Foundation.