Saturday, September 27
FORM AND FUNCTION: The Intersection of Poetry & Architecture

The affinity between poetry (from the Greek root “to build”) and architecture (“to weave, or fabricate”) is as old as language. In this symposium, practitioners from both disciplines deepen our reading of literary and built landscapes.

Co-sponsored by the AIA NY Center for Architecture. Funded, in part, by the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

11:30am | Latin American Confluences:
Poetry & Architecture at the Mid-Century
A.S. Bessa, Carlos Brillembourg, Rubén Gallo & Mónica de la Torre

Far from merely reflecting the zeitgeist, poetry and architecture often change it. The subject of this exchange between poets, scholars and architects ranges from concrete poetry and idealized civic designs in midcentury South America to the politics of individual expression.

A.S. Bessa is the author of Öyvind Fahlström: The Art of Writing and editor of Novas: Selected Writings of Haroldo de Campos. Carlos Brillembourg, a New York-based architect, is the editor of Latin American Architecture 1929-1960. Rubén Gallo teaches at Princeton University and is the author of Mexican Modernity: The Avant-Garde and the Technological Revolution. Mónica de la Torre is the author of Acúfenos and Talk Shows and co-editor of Reversible Monuments: Mexican Contemporary Poetry.

2:30pm | Architexts
Louise Braverman, Susan Mitchell & Jill Stoner

Architects Jill Stoner and Louise Braverman and poet Susan Mitchell consider what architects and poets can gain from a mutual exploration of each other’s disciplines—ranging from the conceptual use of space to the seamless synthesis of metaphor.

Louise Braverman is a New York-based architect, who recently completed the design for Poets House’s new home in Battery Park City. Susan Mitchell’s collections of poetry include Rapture, which received the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and was a National Book Award Finalist, and Erotikon. Jill Stoner, editor of Poems for Architects: An Anthology, has written extensively on poetry and architecture. An architect in Northern California, she teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.

5:00pm | A Conversation with Architect Steven Holl & Poet Susan Stewart

One of the leading architects of our time, Steven Holl, and renowned poet-critic Susan Stewart share insights from their respective roles as readers, writers and architects of ideas as they highlight current projects.

Steven Holl’s architectural projects include the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Simmons Hall at MIT and the Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Susan Stewart’s books of poetry include Red Rover and Columbarium, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

@ Center for Architecture
536 LaGuardia Place
$10 per event/$15 for day.
Free to AIA and Poets House Members

Thursday, October 9, 6:30pm
PASSWORDS | Pablo Medina on Octavio Paz

Poet and translator Pablo Medina reflects on Octavio Paz (1914-1998), winner of the Nobel Prize in 1990. A man of encyclopedic knowledge and vast intellectual range, Paz was able to bring together four great streams of modernity: the European, the Eastern, the Mexican and the North American. This talk traces these influences in Paz’s life and work as threads of a vivid tapestry. Co-sponsored by Wall Street Rising.

Pablo Medina is the author of ten books of poetry and prose, including Points of Balance / Puntos de Apoyo, the novel The Cigar Roller and a translation, with Mark Statman, of Federico García Lorca's Poet in New York. He is a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

@ Wall Street Rising
55 Exchange Place, Suite 401 (bet. Broad and Williams Streets)
Admission free

POETS HOUSE in BATTERY PARK CITY
Saturday, October 11th : Preview Festivities

11:00am | Your Song Is a Map of the City
Chris Martin

Poets House invites children and adults on an interactive walking tour through Battery Park City. Our amble will take us to fountains and lily pools, playgrounds and monuments, hillocks and harbors, as we create a "map-song" of this scenic terrain through poetry and performance. Walk into history with us, as we record this event as artistic addition to our media archives.

Chris Martin is a rapper, teacher and the editor of Puppy Flowers, an online magazine of the arts. An innovative tour guide of Central Park and Prospect Park, his debut volume of poetry, American Music, won the Hayden Carruth Award.

1:00pm | Poetry Walking Tours of Battery Park City

Audience members are invited to join us for a series of poetic walking tours of Battery Park City offering fascinating literary and artistic insights into our new neighborhood. Topics include the Irish Hunger Memorial, the Statue of Liberty, the Siah Armajani installation, the quotes in the Plaza and much more. The free staff-guided tours will depart from the bandshell in Rockefeller Park.

3:00pm | Ode to the City: A Poetic Fanfare for New York City
Edward Field, Joan Larkin, Charles Simic, Patricia Smith & John Yau

Steps away from the future home of Poets House, this outdoor reading celebrates New York City's ample and multitudinous poetic tradition.

Co-sponsored by the Battery Park City Authority.

All events begin or take place at the bandshell, Nelson A. Rockefeller Park.
(1, 2, 3, A, C to Chambers Street, walk west to River Terrace, cross the street to enter the park & head south to the bandshell)
Admission free

Wednesday, October 29, 8:00pm
A Helen Adam Halloween
Edmund Berrigan, Charles Bernstein, Lee Ann Brown, Bob Holman, Susan Howe, Serena Jost, Dan Machlin, Julie Patton, Kristin Prevallet & Cecilia Vicuña

Let the spirits move you to this musical and spoken word happening in honor of San Francisco Renaissance balladeer Helen Adam. Co-sponsored by the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church.

Helen Adam (1909-1993) is the author of San Francisco's Burning, The Bells of Dis and A Helen Adam Reader, edited by Kristin Prevallet. Her work inspired many poets—notably Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan—to explore the ballad.

@ The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church
131 E. 10th Street (at 2nd Avenue)
$8, $7 for students and seniors, $5 for Poetry Project members
Free to Poets House members

Thursday, October 30
Language for a New Century:
Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond

6:30pm | An Alternate Vision: Panel Discussion
Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Tina Chang, Kimiko Hahn, Nathalie Handal, Khaled Mattawa & Ravi Shankar

Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal and Ravi Shankar, editors of Language for a New Century, are joined by Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Kimiko Hahn and Khaled Mattawa to consider "an alternate vision of the new century" in this exploration of contemporary Middle Eastern and Asian poetry.

8:00pm | Language for a New Century: A Reading
Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Tina Chang, Monica Ferrell, Eric Gamalinda, Kimiko Hahn, Nathalie Handal, Cathy Park Hong, Khaled Mattawa, Ravi Shankar & Barbara Tran

Co-sponsored by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and the TRIBECA Performing Arts Center at BMCC.

@ TRIBECA Performing Arts Center
Borough of Manhattan Community College
199 Chambers Street
$10/Free to students and Asian American Writers’ Workshop
and Poets House Members

Tuesday, November 11, 7:00pm
A Tribute to Jane Cooper
Kazim Ali, Jill Bialosky, Martha Collins, Galway Kinnell, Eva Kollisch, Beatrix Gates, Marie Howe, Jan Heller Levi, Thomas Lux & Jean Valentine

Poets and colleagues gather to honor the late Jane Cooper (1924-2007), an award-winning poet and beloved mentor whose poetry has been praised for its "great deep patience for the whole truth." Co-sponsored by The New School.

@ The New School
Theresa Lang Center, Arnold Hall
55 West 13th Street, 2nd Floor
Admission free

Thursday, November 13, 6:30pm
CORRESPONDENCES | A Reading & Conversation with Isabelle Garron, Pierre Joris & Sarah Riggs

This dialogue explores challenging questions about translation and provides an insider’s look at contemporary French poetry. Co-sponsored by Litmus Press and Wall Street Rising.

@ Wall Street Rising
55 Exchange Place, Suite 401 (bet. Broad and William Streets)
Admission free

Thursday, November 20, 7:00pm
CORRESPONDENCES | A Reading & Conversation with Nathaniel Tarn & Eliot Weinberger

On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Nathaniel Tarn will be joined by Eliot Weinberger for a discussion of Tarn's life and writing, including the way in which his experience as an anthropologist has impacted his poetics. Co-sponsored by Housing Works Bookstore Café and New Directions.

Nathaniel Tarn is the author of over 35 books, including Ins and Outs of the Forest Rivers (forthcoming this year). Eliot Weinberger is a renowned essayist, editor and translator.

@ Housing Works Bookstore Café
126 Crosby Street
Admission free