Poet and Essayist J.D. McClatchy to read for The Writing Program’s Fall Reading Series Feb. 19

Poet and Essayist J.D. McClatchy will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, for The Writing Program Reading Series at Washington University in St. Louis.

J.D.McClatchy

The talk — which is sponsored by The Writing Program and Department of English, both in Arts & Sciences — is free and open to the public and take place in Hurst Lounge, Room 201, Duncker Hall, on Washington University’s Hilltop Campus. A book-signing and reception will follow, and copies of McClatchy’s works will be available for purchase. Duncker Hall is located at the northwest corner of Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives. For more information, call (314) 935-7130.

McClatchy is author of five poetry collections, including Hazmat (Knopf, 2002) and Ten Commandments (1998). He has written two books of essays, Twenty Questions (1998) and White Paper (1989). In addition to serving as Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1996 to 2003, McClatchy has received a Wynner Bitter Award for Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Carl Phillips, professor of English, notes that, “McClatchy’s latest book of poems, Hazmat, is a stirring, provocative example of the quiet, undeniable authority that is possible when risk and eloquence come together in the right hands. McClatchy is among our foremost men of letters—not only a masterful poet, but a persuasive critic, a discerning translator and anthologist, and the composer of several critically acclaimed libretti. It’s an honor, indeed, to have him here to read for us at Washington University.”

McClatchy lives in Stonington, Conn., and edits The Yale Review.