Poet Terrance Hayes to appear at MU
Hayes will read his work as part of a reader series.
Published Feb. 19, 2008
MU's Center for the Literary Arts is hosting poet and Carnegie Mellon University professor Terrance Hayes, who will read selections of his poetry Wednesday evening.
The reading is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Reynolds Alumni Center.
Hayes will be the first reader for this semester's CLA Reading Series. The series brings famous writers to MU to read from their own work.
CLA Associate Director Chad Parmenter said Hayes is an exciting poet who reminds him of artists like Bob Dylan and Kanye West and authors like J.D. Salinger.
"Hayes is a poet who has been doing really exciting work from the beginning and seems to just get better and better," Parmenter said. "He has a wonderful ability to put modern day concerns, like the war, in a way that is both timeless and down to earth."
According to the CLA Web site, Hayes is a teacher at Carnagie Mellon University and is the recipient of a number of awards such as a Whiting Writers' Award, a National Poetry Series award and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship.
"He speaks really beautifully to things that we all go through and he also has a kind of intensity," Parmenter said. "He is really experimental in a way that's very accessible."
Hayes has written a number of books, including "Wind in a Box," "Hip Logic" and "Muscular Music." Parmenter said that Hayes will sign copies of all of his books after the reading, which are available in the bookstore.
Parmenter said Heather McHugh and Major Jackson, both poets, are scheduled to visit MU in March.
"We try to get a diverse group that are all wonderfully different from each other," he said.