USI anthology to be unveiled at 50th anniversary poetry reading and launch party

The University of Southern Indiana’s 50th anniversary celebration continues! The College of Liberal Arts will host a poetry reading and launch party for Time Present, Time Past: an anthology of the work of the creative writing alumni and past and present faculty of the University of Southern Indiana published in celebration of its 50th anniversary. The event will be held at 4:30 p.m. on October 15 in Kleymeyer Hall in the Liberal Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public.

The anthology will include the creative work of 14 alumni and 10 past and present USI faculty members. Copies will be available at the poetry reading and at the USI Campus Store located in the University Center West.

The Creative Writing Program at USI began with the hiring of Mark Jarman (1976-1977) and Robert McDowell (1978-1984), the English Department’s first full time creative writing instructors. Today the Creative Writing Emphasis employs three full-time faculty, four part-time, and has 143 majors and 42 minors. Jarman and McDowell will be featured at the event, offering a poetry reading of their original works.

Jarman is a key figure in both New Narrative and New Formalism, significantly influencing contemporary American poetry. More recently, he is the author of Bone Fires: New and Selected Poems. He also is the author of 10 books of poetry, two books of essays and a book of essays co-authored with McDowell. Jarman has been awarded the Joseph Henry Jackson Award, three grants from the National Education Association and a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation for his poetry. He is now the Centennial Professor of English at Vanderbilt University.

McDowell is a poet and social activist for the advancement of women’s rights, an educator, editor and author of 16 books. His poems and stories have appeared in hundreds of anthologies and periodicals around the world. During his time as publisher and editor of Story Line Press, he selected, edited and guided into print 300 books by Pulitzer Prize winners, A Nobel Laureate and five U.S. Poet Laureates. He was a two-year Woolrich Fellow at Columbia University’s School of the Arts and a finalist for the Oregon Book Award.

For additional information please contact Matthew Graham, professor of English, at 812-464-1953 or mgraham@usi.edu.