Aging and the Arts Poetry Circle: Rita Dove

Join us for monthly poetry discussions, led by docents from the UA Poetry Center. The event is free, and no preparation or knowledge of poetry is necessary to participate. A reading packet will be shared. For anyone who enjoys poetry or learning more about poets in a conversational setting, this informal gathering includes many opportunities to contribute to the conversation and ask questions. It is also a great way to meet people in the community who have similar interests. Rita Dove received the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Thomas and Beulah and served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1993–1995. Spanning forty-plus years with translations on all continents, her oeuvre includes many genres; besides her numerous poetry collections – most recently Playlist for the Apocalypse – she has authored short stories, essays, the novel Through the Ivory Gate, and the song cycles Seven for Luck (1998, music by John Williams) and A Standing Witness (with composer Richard Danielpour, premiered by Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Susan Graham in 2021). Her award-winning play, The Darker Face of the Earth, had successful runs at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Kennedy Center in Washington and the Royal National Theatre in London. She also edited The Penguin Anthology of 20th-Century American Poetry and has been a poetry columnist for The Washington Post’s Book World and poetry editor of The New York Times Magazine.