STONY BROOK, N.Y., March 29, 2006— A reception at Stony Brook University will celebrate the publication of The Light of the City and Sea: An Anthology of Suffolk County Poetry (Street Press, 2006) and will highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievements of Suffolk County’s poets. The reception will feature readings by many of the county’s most prominent poets and coincides with National Poetry Month, founded in 1996 by The Academy of American Poets.
The event will take place on Wednesday, April 5 at 4:00 PM in the Charles B. Wang Center.
Legislator Vivian Viloria-Fisher created legislation in 2002 to honor the art of poetry in the county by designating a post for Suffolk County Poet Laureate. Dr. Daniel Thomas Moran, a widely published author and alumnus of Stony Brook University, will hold the position through 2007. He is also the Editor of the anthology, which is the largest compilation of Long Island poetry ever to be published.
Dr. Moran and Dr. Graham Everett, founder of the Street Press, will introduce the poets who will read their published selections. Featured guests include Louis Simpson, Vince Clemente, Allen Planz, Ron Overton, Fran Castan, Millie Swaningson Eckhoff, Lenny Greco, Lila Zemborain, Harvey Shapiro, Charles Fishman, Claire Nicholas White, Mindy Kronenberg, Grace Schulman, Virginia Walker, and Stanley Moss.
The anthology contains 135 poems by 80 local poets, all of whom have been invited to the celebration. Books will be available for purchase. The reception is sponsored by the University Libraries and the Department of English. All are welcome - free and open to the public.
For more information, contact Kristen Nyitray at 631-632-7119 or kristen.nyitray@stonybrook.edu. A full schedule of Library events is available at: http://www.stonybrook.edu/library.
