Hamilton – Derek Walcott, winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature, will be in residence on the Colgate University Campus the week of April 19 as part of the yearlong program of the Center for Ethics and World Societies. During his stay, Walcott will participate in class meetings with students and will give a free public lecture and free public reading of his poetry.
On Tuesday, April 20 at 4:00 p.m. Walcott’s lecture will be titled ‘Poetry, Politics, and Culture’ and will take place in Love Auditorium, Olin Hall. On Thursday, April 22 at 4:30 p.m. in Love Auditorium, Olin Hall, Walcott will give a reading of his poetry.
In honor of Walcott’s visit, students from a Colgate acting class will do a public reading of his play The Joker of Seville on Wednesday, April 21 at 8:00 p.m. in Brehmer Theater. The reading is directed Barbara Vann, visiting lecturer in theater.
Walcott was born in St. Lucia, Windward Islands in the West Indies. Omeros, one of his most esteemed works, epitomizes the poet’s ability to interweave European and island influences. In this epic poem, whose title is the contemporary Greek work for Homer, Walcott pays homage to the ancient poet in an epic work that takes place in a Caribbean setting.
Walcott’s poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Kenyon Review, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, London Magazine, Antaeus and other periodicals. He has published almost 20 books of poetry, including Selected Poems, Collected Poems, The Arkansas Testament, and The Bounty.
Introduced this fall, the Center for Ethics and World Societies brings internationally renowned scholars, artists, theologians, and novelists to campus and sponsors other events that focus on issues of worldwide importance. The center’s 1998-99 theme ‘Disturbing History: Art out of Atrocity’ explores issues of genocide and memory.
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