Published: 03/14/2019
Denise Duhamel
Gannon University will host its 42nd annual Writing Awards Night on Wednesday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Waldron Campus Center, 124 W. Seventh St. and is free and open to the public.
Denise Duhamel will be the distinguished guest poet and will be reading featured selections of her award-winning poetry.
Students from all three of the University's colleges will be honored for their achievements in writing poetry, journalism, and research. In addition, winners of Gannon's annual nation-wide high school poetry contest will be recognized.
In addition to the Awards Program, Denise Duhamel will host an afternoon seminar, on Wednesday, April 10 at 3:00 p.m. in the Palumbo Academic Center, 824 Peach St., Room 3200.
Denise Duhamel is a widely celebrated poet whose most recent book of poetry is Scald (Pittsburgh, 2017). Blowout (Pittsburgh, 2013) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her other titles include Ka-Ching! (Pittsburgh, 2009); Two and Two(Pittsburgh, 2005); Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems (Pittsburgh, 2001); The Star-Spangled Banner (Southern Illinois University Press, 1999);andKinky (Orhisis, 1997). She is a professor at Florida International University in Miami.
Her work is anthologized widely and appears in literary magazines including Ploughshares, New Ohio Review, and The American Poetry Review. Duhamel is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. In Rain Taxi, writes, William D. Waltz, "As I read her work...I feel like I'm taking a sneak peek at the future: Duhamel hints at a poetry that transcends irony and alienation. There's plenty of both here, but she's busy working them over...pushing so hard that the next step may be beyond what is known."
Copies of the 2019 Totem, Gannon University's award-winning student-produced literary arts magazine, will be available free of charge. Last fall, Totem won first place in the American Scholastic Press Association's national competition for the 22nd consecutive year.
For more information about Writing Awards Night or the high school poetry contest, contact Dr. Shreelina Ghosh at ghosh002@gannon.edu, or visit www.gannon.edu/poetrycontest.