Howard, poetry editor of The Paris Review, to speak

Richard Howard, poetry editor of The Paris Review, will present a talk on the craft of poetry at 8 p.m. March 16 for The Writing Program Reading Series and will read from his own work at 8 p.m. March 18.

Both events — which are sponsored by The Writing Program and Department of English, both in Arts & Sciences — are free and open to the public and will be in Hurst Lounge, Duncker Hall, Room 201.

A book-signing and reception will follow each, and copies of Howard’s works will be available for purchase.

Howard is the author of 11 books of poetry, including most recently Trappings: New Poems (1999) and Like Most Revelations: New Poems (1994). His book Untitled Subjects was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1969.

In addition, Howard has published more than 150 translations from French, including works by Baudelaire, Camus, Breton and Barthes. He has received the National Institute of Arts and Letters Literary Award, the Ordre National du Merite from the French government and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the Guggenheim Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

“Like Robert Browning before him and like no one else since, Richard Howard accurately captures the present by assuming the voices of those who lived in the past,” said Mary Jo Bang, associate professor of English. “His dramatic monologues reveal more than just mere virtuosity — as if virtuosity is ever only mere — but offer wisdom as well, and a sly erudite humor, and often lacerating poignancy.”

Howard teaches in the Writing Division of the School of Arts at Columbia University. During his weeklong residency at Washington University, he will serve as the Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature.

For more information, call 935-7130.