UA News

Dan Beachy-Quick will be at the UA this week for a reading and discussion and, next month, the UA Poetry Center will host a tribute in honor of the late American-born poet, Gustaf Sobin.

The Poetry Center is hosting a series of events this spring, including several readings, question and answer sessions and a tribute in honor of the late American-born poet Gustaf Sobin. 

On Feb. 18, poet Dan Beachy-Quick will be reading at the University of Arizona Poetry Center at 8 p.m. Like the Feb. 18 event, all are open and free to the public and will be located at the Helen S. Schaefer Building, 1508 E. Helen St. 

Beachy-Quick, an assistant professor of English at Colorado State University, has published several volumes of poetry and has a keen passion for Herman Melville's novel, "Moby Dick." A question and answer session with Beachy-Quick also will be held Feb. 19 at 4 p.m.

In his second volume, titled "Spell," Beachy-Quick offers a meditation on "Moby Dick," engaging with Melville and his writings through the use of mythical and spiritual storytelling. 

In 2008, he published "A Whaler's Dictionary," a collection of essays inspired by "Cetological Dictionary," which was abandoned by Melvillle's character, Ishmael. 

Also upcoming, John D’Agata will provide a reading on Feb. 22 as part of the UA Prose Series Reading. Co-sponsored by the UA's English department, College of Humanities and the Poetry Center, the reading will be held at 8 p.m., also at the center.

D’Agata authored "Halls of Fame" and is the editor of The Next American Essay and The Lost Origins of the Essay. He teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa.

On March 6, the center will be hosting a tribute in honor of Gustaf Sobin, who passed in 2005.

The 3 p.m. event is a celebration of Sobin's work. The American-born essayist and novelist lived more than 40 years in France. He was the author of nine books of poetry, most recently "The Places as Preludes," which was published in 2005, and seven novels.

The Poetry Center's tribute coincides with the publication of Talisman House's new "Collected Poetry of Gustaf Sobin," which was edited by Andrew Joron and Andrew Zawacki. The event will include a panel discussion to be held at 3 p.m. and reading of Sobin’s work, which will be held at 8 p.m. The reception begins at 4:30 pm.

And on March 11, the center will host its "Best of Contemporary Mexican Fiction Anthology Reading," published in 2009, with editor Álvaro Uribe and fiction writers Vivian Abenshushan and Cristina Rivera-Garza.

The 8 p.m. event is part of the UA Prose Series Reading, and is co-sponsored by the Consulate of Mexico in Tucson and UA BookStores. Additionally, the authors will hold a panel discussion on contemporary Mexican Fiction at 4 p.m. on March 12.

Most of the authors and all of the stories collected in th anthology appear in English for the first time. Uribe selected 16 writers from Mexico who were born after 1945 to contribute to the collection.