Manhattan College Reading Series Continues with Poet Iain Haley Pollock
Pollock will read from his award-winning poetry collection on March 26
Poet Iain Haley Pollock will speak at Manhattan College on Tuesday, March 26, as part of the English department’s Major Author Reading Series (M.A.R.S.). Pollock’s first collection of poems, Spit Back a Boy, won the 2010 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, which is dedicated to the discovery of exceptional manuscripts by African-American poets.
The event will be held at 4:30 p.m. in Hayden Hall, Room 100. It is free and open to the public.
Pollock’s poems have appeared in Agni and Boston Review, among other publications. A Cave Canem Fellow, he currently teaches at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, where he is the Cyrus H. Nathan ’30 Distinguished Faculty Chair for English.
Of Spit Back a Boy, Brooks Haxton, author of They Lift Their Wings to Cry, has said: “Beyond the bracing intelligence in these poems, beyond the surges of joy and trouble, beyond the poet’s awe in this split second, he plunges with imagination into the timeless work of loving witness, resonant with high style and the blues.”
The Pollock reading is funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. through public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
Designed to engage and expose students to modern literature, M.A.R.S. has brought several notable writers to campus for readings and book signings since its 2010 launch. They include Pulitzer Prize winners Junot Diaz, Jennifer Egan and Claudia Emerson; National Book Award finalist Joshua Ferris; essayist Phillip Lopate; and Marie Howe, the current Poet Laureate of New York state.
M.A.R.S. will conclude on April 24 with memoirist, poet and critic Honor Moore.
For more information on M.A.R.S., contact David Eye, visiting assistant professor of creative writing, at (718) 862-7921 or david.eye@manhattan.edu, or Adam Koehler, assistant professor of English, at (718) 862-7546 or adam.koehler@manhattan.edu.
Media interested in attending the event should contact John Tucker at (718) 862-7232 or john.tucker@manhattan.edu.