This is the second of a series of guest posts on Book Patrol featuring the four poets who will be sharing the stage with W.S. Merwin at the upcoming "W.S. Merwin and Friends" benefit for Copper Canyon Press at Seattle's Town Hall.Valzhyna Mort hails from Belarus, a country carved out of the former Soviet Union. The Irish Times called her "A risen star of the international poetry world.” Her first book released in America Factory of Tears, published by Copper Canyon Press, is the first Belarusian/English poetry book to be published in the U.S. She has garnered an international reputation...
Ben Lerner on W.S. Merwin
Ben Lerner is the author of two collections of poetry The Lichtenberg Figures, which won the 2003 Hayden Carruth Award, and Angle of Yaw, which was finalist for the National Book Award. Both are published by Copper Canyon Press. His third book, Mean Free Path, also published by CCP, is due to be released any day now. Publishers Weekly pronounced that Lerner is "among the most promising young poets now writing."Lerner teaches in the writing program at the University of Pittsburgh.On February 4 poet Lerner will take part in the W.S. Merwin & Friends reading to benefit Copper Canyon Press....
W.S. Merwin & Friends: Four Poets Share the Stage and Their Thoughts
The pressmark of Copper Canyon Press.The Chinese character for poetry. Comprised of two parts: word and temple.One of the edicts of Copper Canyon Press is to publish books "by both revered and emerging American poets."On February 4, this commitment comes to life when two time Pulitzer Prize winning poet W.S. Merwin will read with four younger poets from the Copper Canyon stable in a benefit for the press. Joining Merwin at Seattle's Town Hall will be Ben Lerner, Erin Belieu, Matthew Zapruder and Valzhyna Mort.To celebrate the event Book Patrol has asked each of the younger poets to share a...