Marie Howe Poetry Reading and Q&A
Former New York poet laureate Marie Howe will come to Boston University on March 18 for a reading of her poetry, followed by a Q&A on spirituality, poetry and imagination.
An acclaimed poet, Howe is the author of three poetry collections: The Good Thief (1988), selected for the National Poetry Series; What the Living Do (1997), named one of the five best poetry collections of the year by Publishers Weekly; and The Kingdom of Ordinary Time (2008), a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist.
Fellow New York poet laureate Stanley Kunitz selected Howe’s first book as the recipient of the Lavan Younger Poets Prize of the American Academy of Poets and called her work “luminous, intense, and eloquent, rooted in an abundant inner life.” Howe served as New York State Poet from 2012 to 2014. She is also the recipient of fellowships from National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Academy of American Poets.
“Boston University has a rich tradition of supporting religion and the arts,” said Shelly Rambo, associate professor of theology at STH. “Howe’s work represents possibilities for a new level of collaboration, beyond an appreciation of the arts to a more intentional exploration of the poetic dimension of religious ideas. Her work presses us, as academics, to rethink not just what we write but how we write it.”
Howe’s work deals with themes of faith, loss, and family: the secular and the sacred, childhood and living, “a contemporary woman’s spiritual biography,” according to Library Journal. Howe grew up in a Catholic family, the oldest of nine children, and has said that the nuns who provided her education also shaped her theology : “I began to appreciate that spirituality could be rigorous. It could be imaginative.” In What the Living Do, she faces the death of her brother from AIDS and writes about his loss with “a poetry of intimacy, witness, honesty, and relation,” according to the Boston Globe. In a starred review for Publishers Weekly, Brenda Shaughnessy said, “This book has become a classic text in coping with life, love and loss. … Howe is the rare poet who offers answers to these questions.”
“With public attention to the divisive force of religion, it is important to explore the healing dimensions of our religious traditions,” Rambo said. “Howe’s work seeks that healing.”
The reading will take place on March 18 at 5:30 pm in the Katzenberg Center at the College of General Studies: 871 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston MA 02215. It is hosted by Boston University School of Theology, BU Creative Writing program, MET Reading Series (College of General Studies), BU Program in Scripture and the Arts, and The Association for Theopoetics Research and Exploration.
Howe’s poetry reading will be the opening event for Theopoetics: A Transdisciplinary Conference with Workshops and Dialogue, held March 18-19 at Boston University. The focus of this event closely aligns with Howe’s description of spirituality as rigorous and imaginative. It is “a gathering for those whose interests live at — or near — the intersection of theology with imagination, aesthetics, embodiment, and literature.” Theological scholars and religious practitioners will gather for academic discussions, facilitated dialogue, performance, and workshops. Learn more at TheopoeticsConference.org.