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October 4, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Poet Heather McHugh to Read
at Smith
NORTHAMPTON, Mass.-The Poetry Center
at Smith College will present poet Heather McHugh at 7:30 p.m.
on Tuesday, Oct. 23, in Wright Hall Auditorium.
McHugh is the author of six books of poetry, a book of
essays and translations from several languages. Called a "postmodern
metaphysician" by Booklist, McHugh is widely praised for
her attention to, and fascination with, language itself. Her
poems, which have won many awards, often revolve around complicated
wordplay and etymological games. Former U. S. Poet Laureate
Robert Hass described her as "a poet for whom wit is a form
of spiritual survival." The Village Voice Literary Supplement
declared that McHugh's poems "are honest and essential
as a blood count."
Born in California and raised in Virginia, McHugh entered Harvard
at the age
of 16 and later did graduate work at the University of Denver.
Her first book of poems, "Dangers," was published in
1977. Subsequent volumes include "To the Quick," "Hinge
& Sign," "The Father of the Predicaments"
and "Broken English: Poetry and Partiality," a collection
of essays. Her translation work includes Euripides' "Cyclops"
and "Glottal Stop: Poems of Paul Celan" (with her husband,
Nikolai Popov).
McHugh has taught at many universities and writing programs,
including the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is on the faculty
of the Warren Wilson College M.F.A. program and is Milliman Distinguished
Writer-in-Residence and Professor of English at the University
of Washington in Seattle.
McHugh's Oct. 23 reading, which is free and open to the public,
will be followed by a bookselling and signing. For more information,
call Cindy Furtek at (413) 585-4891 or Ellen Doré Watson
at (413) 585-3368, or visit the Poetry Center Web site at https://www.smith.edu/poetrycenter.
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