Pulitzer Prize-winning poet at Ithaca College

The Ithaca College Department of Writing and School of Humanities and Sciences will welcome Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa to campus as part of the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series. He will read from his work on Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Park Hall Auditorium. The reading is free and open to the public.

Komunyakaa is the author of 12 books of poetry, including “Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems,” for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1994. He has also been honored with the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and the William Faulkner Prize from the Université de Rennes, while his “Thieves of Paradise” and “Talking Dirty to the Gods” were both finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The subject matter of Komunyakaa’s writing ranges from the African-American experience through rural Southern life before the Civil Rights movement and his experiences doing a tour of duty in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

Komunyakaa served as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1999 to 2005. He has taught at the University of New Orleans, Indiana University and Princeton University. He is currently professor and distinguished senior poet at New York University.

Books by Komunyakaa will be for sale at the reading, which will be followed by a book signing opportunity. For more information, visit the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series website, or contact Jack Wang, assistant professor of writing, at (607) 274-3493 or wang@ithaca.edu.