Poetry Reading this Friday

Poetry Reading + Q & A
Wendy S. Walters
Friday, November 18th, 2011
12:30pm

Dr. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery
Sunyat Sen Building
St. John's University
Queens Campus

Bio:
Wendy S. Walters' work resides at the intersection of the poem, essay and lyric drama. She is the author of the forthcoming book of poetry, Longer I Wait, More You Love Me (2009) and a chapbook, Birds of Los Angeles (2005), both published by Palm Press (Long Beach, CA).  Walters' poetry has been recognized with residency fellowships from Breadloaf, MacDowell and Yaddo, and her poems have recently appeared in Callaloo, HOW2, Natural Bridge, Seneca Review and the Yalobusha Review, among several others.  Her lyric and personal essays have been published in Seneca Review, Seattle Review, and Harper's.

Walters's lyrical work with composer Derek Bermel has been performed widely, at venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and Joe's Pub in New York, to the Louisiana Museum for Moderne Kunst in Denmark.  In 2008, along with Bermel, she was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony to write the libretto for The Good Life, an oratorio celebrating the first 250 years of Pittsburgh's history.  Walters was also an artist-in-residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony, teaching advanced students from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.  In addition to works for large ensembles and orchestras, Walters and Bermel have written dozens of art songs. They are completing a musical called Golden Motors, which was commissioned by the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust.

After completing her formal studies, including a M.F.A. in creative writing (poetry), and Ph.D. in English Language and Literature with an emphasis in cultural and performance studies from Cornell University, Walters spent the several years teaching at the Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, CA) and The Rhode Island School of Design (Providence, RI).  At present she is Assistant Professor of Poetry in the Department of Literary Studies at the Eugene Lang College of the New School University (New York, NY).  She lives in New York City.

Wendy S. Walters is the author of Longer I Wait, More You Love Me (2009) and a chapbook, Birds of Los Angeles (2005), both published by Palm Press (Long Beach, CA).  She is a 2011 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Poetry.  Walters' poetry has been recognized with residency fellowships from Breadloaf, MacDowell, Cave Canem and Yaddo, and her poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Los Angeles Review, Callaloo, HOW2, Natural Bridge, Seneca Review and the Yalobusha Review, among several others.  She has been a nominee for the Essay Prize and her prose has been published or is forthcoming in Bookforum, Iowa Review, Coldfront, Seneca Review, Seattle Review, and Harper's Magazine.

Wendy S. Walters will read from her book, a copy of which is in the St. John's University Library:

Longer I Wait, More You Love Me
Wendy S. Walters  (Palm Press)
Special attention is given to the long-form in the thirteen poems that comprise LONGER I WAIT, MORE YOU LOVE ME, Walters's first full-length poetry collection.  With humor and eroticism, these poems note the subtle dynamics of relationship that can lead to loneliness, romance and even divine love.  With dead-pan perceptiveness, this collection examines how misfortune occurs when we allow those moments, people and locations most familiar to us to pass by without acknowledgement of their resonant mystery.

The thirteen experiments in narrative structure that comprise LONGER I WAIT, MORE YOU LOVE ME, Wendy S. Walters' first full-length collection, reflect a special affection for the long-form poem. With deadpan perceptiveness, the subtle dynamics of relationship that can lead to loneliness, romance and even divine love are noted as landscapes of consciousness.  This collection examines how misfortune occurs when we allow those moments, people and locations most familiar to us to pass by without acknowledgment of their resonant mystery.

For more, see her website:  http://www.wendyswalters.com/

Co-sponsored by the English Department and the Food for Thought Poetry Club

Contact Professor Lee Ann Brown, 718.990.5340  brownL@stjohns.edu with any questions.
Feel free to bring your class.