Poet and stage writer Cornelius Eady reads from his work Apr. 9

Date: Apr. 9, 2008
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Keller Hall Reception Room, Keller Hall

Cornelius Eady, a poet, stage writer and essayist, will read from his work on Wednesday, April 9, at 7:00 p.m. in the Keller Hall Reception Room. Eady is the author of six books of poetry: Kartunes (1980), Victims of the Latest Dance Craze (1986, winner of the 1985 Lamont Prize from the Academy of American Poets), The Gathering of My Name (1991, nominated for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize in poetry), You Don't Miss Your Water (1995), The Autobiography of a Jukebox (1997) and Brutal Imagination (2001). His work appears in many journals, magazines and anthologies. 

With poet Toi Derricote, Eady is co-founder of Cave Canem, a summer workshop/retreat for African American poets. He is the recipient of an NEA Fellowship in literature, a Guggenheim Fellowship in poetry, a Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Scholarship, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship and The Prairie Schooner Strousse Award. In 1997, an adaptation of You Don't Miss Your Water was performed at the Vineyard Theatre in New York City. In 1999, "Running Man," a music-theatre piece co-written with jazz musician Diedre Murray was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in drama and awarded a 1999 Obie for best musical score and lead actor in a musical. In 2002, a production of Brutal Imagination (with a score by Diedre Murray) opened at the Vineyard Theatre, where it won the 2002 Oppenheimer Award for the best first play by an American playwright.

Eady has taught poetry at SUNY Stony Brook, where he directed its Poetry Center, City College, Sarah Lawrence College, New York University, The Writer's Voice, The 92nd St Y, The College of William and Mary and Sweet Briar College. At present, he is an associate professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Notre Dame.

Posted March 26, 2008