Yusef Komunyakaa is the Senior Distinguished Poet in the Graduate Writing Program at New York University. His numerous books of poems include Pleasure Dome: New & Collected Poems, 1975-1999, Talking Dirty to the Gods, Thieves of Paradise, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Neon Vernacular: New & Selected Poems 1977-1989, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. He will speak to Indianapolis as part of Butler University’s Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers series.
When: Thursday, Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Butler University, Krannert Room, 4600 Sunset Ave.
Komunyakaa’s prose is collected in Blues Notes: Essays, Interviews & Commentaries. His honors include the William Faulkner Prize from the Universite Rennes, the Thomas Forcade Award, the Hanes Poetry Prize, fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Louisiana Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
He was also awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam, where he served as managing editor of the “Southern Cross.” In 1999, he was elected a chancellor of The Academy of American Poets.