A Tribute to Mark Strand

On October 9th, the Academy of American Poets,  The School of Writing at the New School, and the Poetry Society of America presented a tribute to Mark Strand (Director's Guest 2008, 2011) at the New School's Auditorium.  With more than 400 people in attendance, the tribute honored Strand's recently released Collected Poems and his 80th birthday earlier this year.

As a Director's Guest, Strand has a special relationship with Civitella.  He recently donated a large collection of poetry and literature from his personal collection, which vastly expanded our Library's holdings.  He has nominated several candidates for our Writing Juries and maintains strong ties to the Civitella community.

Civitella had a strong presence at the tribute.  We recently launched an Affiliated Fellowship with the Academy of American Poets, in which the annual recipient of the Walt Whitman Award will receive a Civitella residency.  There were also seven Civitellians who presented readings of Strand's work and personal anecdotes.   David Lehman (CRF 2006), Honor Moore (Director's Guest 2010, 2014), Alan Shapiro (Director's Guest 2010), Peg Boyers (CRF 2004), John Koethe (Director's Guest 2010), Mary Jo Salter (Director's Guest 2011), and Tom Sleigh (CRF 2014) were among the 18 total poets who paid tribute to Strand and his work.

You can read more about Mark Strand and the event in this piece on Best American Poetry's blog.