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Thursday, Sept. 30 Craft talk: 4 p.m., Fenton Hall 127. Reading: 7 p.m., Thompson Hall 101. |
The SUNY Fredonia English Department’s Visiting Writers Series will welcome New York City-based poet and author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz to campus on Thursday, Sept. 30 for a series of events.
O'Keefe Aptowicz is also the founder and host of the three-time National Poetry Slam Championship venue, NYC-Urbana Reading Series, dedicated to showcasing the most innovative voices in poetry. She also became the youngest founding “slammaster” in the nation when she started the series at age 19 in 1998.
Cristin is the author of five books of poetry, including “Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam” (Soft Skull Press, 2008), which acclaimed poet Billy Collins said, “leaves no doubt that the slam poetry scene has achieved legitimacy and taken its rightful place on the map of contemporary literature.” The Washington Post also named it one of five Notable Books on Exploring Poetry in 2008.
Her poetry and nonfiction have been published in various journals, including McSweeney's Internet Tendencies, Pank, Barrelhouse, Umbrella, The Other Journal, decomP, No, Dear Magazine, Monkeybicycle, damselfly, Danse Macabre, Spindle, Long Shot, Going Down Swinging and Rattle, among others.
O'Keefe Aptowicz and the English Department will hold a craft talk at 4 p.m. on Sept. 30, in Room 127 of Fenton Hall, and a reading of her work will follow at 7 p.m. in Room 101 of Thompson Hall. Students, faculty members and the general public are invited to attend.
After the reading there will be a pie-raffle with baked goods provided by Fredonia’s Uppercrust Bakehouse as well as a book giveaway made possible by The Book Nook, also of Fredonia.
