November 12, 2014

Dean Young and Aleksandar Hemon Read at Lewis Center for the ArtsAward-winning writers next in Althea Ward Clark W’21 Reading Series

Photo Caption 1: Writer Aleksandar Hemon Photo Credit 1: Velibor Božović

Photo Caption 2: Poet Dean YoungPhoto Credit 2: from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/dean-young

What: Reading - Althea Ward Clark W’21 Reading SeriesWho: Poet Dean Young and fiction writer Aleksandar HemonWhen: Wednesday, November 19 at 4:30 p.m.Where: Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre CenterFree and open to the public

(Princeton, NJ) On Wednesday, November 19, poet and Pulitzer Prize finalist Dean Young and

award-winning Bosnian-American fiction writer Aleksandar Hemon will read from their works

as part of the Althea Ward Clark W’21 Reading Series of the Program in Creative Writing at the

Lewis Center for the Arts. The reading, beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the Berlind Theatre at the

McCarter Theatre Center, is free and open to the public.

Dean Young’s numerous collections of poetry include Strike Anywhere (1995), winner of the

Colorado Prize for Poetry; Skid (2002), finalist for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize; Elegy on

Toy Piano (2005), finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; and Primitive Mentor (2008), shortlisted for the

International Griffin Poetry Prize.  His poems have been featured in Best American Poetry

numerous times. He has also written a book on poetics, The Art of Recklessness: Poetry as

Assertive Force and Contradiction (2010).

Upon presenting Young with the Academy Award in Literature, the American Academy of Arts

and Letters noted, “Dean Young’s poems are as entertaining as a three-ring circus and as

imaginative as a canvas by Hieronymus Bosch.”

Young has also been awarded a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, as well as

fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the

Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He has taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the low-

residency M.F.A. program at Warren Wilson College, and the University of Texas-Austin, where

he holds the William Livingston Chair of Poetry.

 

Aleksandar Hemon is the author of The Lazarus Project, which was a finalist for the 2008

National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, and three collections of short

stories: The Question of Bruno (2001); Nowhere Man (2004), which was also a finalist for the

National Book Critics Circle Award; and Love and Obstacles (2009). Born in Sarajevo, Hemon

visited Chicago in 1992, intending to stay for a matter of months. While he was there, Sarajevo

came under siege, and he was unable to return home. Hemon wrote his first story in English in

1995. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003 and a “genius grant” from the

MacArthur Foundation in 2004. 

About his latest collection of nonfiction work, The Book of My Lives, Junot Díaz wrote,

“Incandescent. When your eyes close, the power of Aleksandar Hemon’s colossal talent

remains.” This autobiographical work was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Critics Circle

Award.

The Lewis Center’s Program in Creative Writing is sponsoring this event as part of the Althea

Ward Clark W’21 Reading Series, which provides an opportunity for students, as well as all in

the greater Princeton region to hear and meet the best writers of contemporary poetry and fiction.

All readings are free and open to the public and take place on select Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. at

the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center.

Upcoming readings in the series include:

New work by students from Program in Creative Writing fall courses on December 10

Evie Shockley and Meg Wolitzer on February 11

A.E. Stallings and Akhil Sharma on March 11

Rachel Kushner and John Yau on April 15

New work by students from Program in Creative Writing spring courses on April 29

Work by Program in Creative Writing seniors on May 4 and 6

To learn more about the Program in Creative Writing, the Reading Series, and the more than 100

events offered annually by the Lewis Center visit arts.princeton.edu.

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The Lewis Center for the Arts encompasses Princeton University’s academic programs in creative writing, dance, theater, and visual arts, as well as the interdisciplinary Princeton Atelier. The Center represents a major initiative of the University to fully embrace the arts as an essential part of the educational experience for all who study and teach at Princeton. Over 100 diverse public performances, exhibitions, readings, and lectures are offered each year, most of them free or at a nominal admission fee. For more information about the Lewis Center for the Arts, including a complete list of supporters, please visit arts.princeton.edu