Poetry Center to Open 1999-2000 Reading Series

The inaugural event in the Smith College Poetry Center's 1999-2000 series of readings will celebrate Bosnian poet Ferida Durakovíc, who is visiting the U.S. to accept PEN New England's 1999 Vasyl Stus Freedom-to-Write Award. The reading, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 28, in the Neilson Library Browsing Room.

Durakovíc will read from "Heart of Darkness," her first collection to appear in English, and will be joined by poet Christopher Merrill, who will share excerpts about Durakovíc and her life in Sarajevo from his most recent prose work, "Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars." The evening will also feature a screening of a recent "ABC Nightline" portrait of the poet and her besieged city, directed by Phil Alden Robinson ("Sneakers," "Field of Dreams").

The Freedom-to-Write Award honors Durakovíc for her "bold decision to keep the PEN Center in Sarajevo open throughout the war, providing every kind of assistance imaginable to writers there" and "for choosing to write-choosing to resist silence and to answer the devastation of war with expression of feeling. She is a fine writer and a rare and generous spirit who has given hope and encouragement to many."

"Heart of Darkness" spans Durakovíc's entire poetic career. The poems reflect the world of a young girl whose hopes and dreams are shattered by the Balkan conflicts that arose following the breakup of Yugoslavia and the obstinacy and perseverance of a young woman as she witnesses the bombing and terrorizing of her city at the hands of those who, only months before, were her friends and neighbors. Durakovíc has published five collections of poems and two children's books in her native Serbo-Croatian, and her work has been translated into Greek, Slovenian, Turkish, German, and Finnish. In addition to the PEN prize, Durakovíc has been awarded the Hellman-Hammet Grant for Free Expression. She lives in Sarajevo with her husband and three-year-old daughter.

Books by Durakovíc and Merrill will be available for purchase and signing immediately follow the reading. For more information, contact Cindy Furtek in the Poetry Center office at (413) 585-4891 or Ellen Doré Watson, Director, at (413) 585-3368.

August 31, 1999