Poets of the American South

Emory University Libraries and its Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) hosted the Poetry Society of America's (PSA) centennial events in the South on Thursday, Oct. 7.

Emory is an ideal location for the Festival of Southern Poets because MARBL strives to be a center for Southern verse and poetry in general, with holdings from noteworthy poets like James Dickey to international bards such as Seamus Heaney, according to Kevin Young, curator of MARBL's literary collections and the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library.

"We chose Emory as the place to have our Southern Centennial event because we admire Kevin Young's work with the Danowski Poetry Library," says Alice Quinn, executive director of the PSA. "Emory is a hub for contemporary poetry with major collections of poets' papers and a lively series of poetry events throughout the year, and Atlanta is one of America's great literary hotbeds."

The poets featured at the readings included Pulitzer Prize winners Claudia Emerson and Natasha Trethewey, MacArthur Fellowship "Genius Award" winner C.D. Wright, and Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award winner Thomas Lux.

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Education

Tags:

• Emory Libraries
• Emory Library
• Poets of the American South
• Claudia Emerson
• Natasha Trethewey
• C.D. Wright
• Thomas Lux