September 18, 2018

Critically-acclaimed poet to discuss politics' effect on poetry in SVSU talk

Saginaw Valley State University is hosting a lecture by an award-winning poet who will explore how poetry is influenced by the current political climate.

Carmen Bugan will speak Monday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall at SVSU. The event is free and open to the public.

Her lecture, “Poetry in a Time of Politics,” will investigate what occurs when poetry and politics meet, and the rift between a poet's private and public identity. She will explore how the poet begins to search for an adequate language to create and celebrate freedom.

Born in Romania, Bugan has lived in England, Ireland, France and the U.S. She is the author of three collections of poetry: “Crossing the Carpathians,” “The House of Straw” and “Releasing the Porcelain Birds.” Bugan also authored the memoir, “Burying the Typewriter: Childhood Under the Eye of the Secret Police.”

Among her many awards and honors, Bugan was a Creative Arts Fellow in Literature at Oxford University, where she earned her Ph.D.; a George Orwell Prize Fellow; and a recipient of the Bread Loaf Nonfiction Prize. She also is the 2018 Helen DeRoy Professor in Honors at the University of Michigan, where she completed her bachelor’s degree.

Bugan’s lecture is part of SVSU's 2018-19 Dow Visiting Scholars and Artists Series, a program at SVSU established through an endowment from The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation to enrich our region’s cultural and intellectual opportunities.