The Peters Township Public Library will welcome author of poetry and fiction Dr. Samuel Hazo who will discuss “Poetry in Public Speech” on Sunday, December 2 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the library. To attend this memorable event with Dr. Hazo, register
online, visit the library circulation desk, or call 724.941.9430. A book signing and reception will follow the program.
Samuel Hazo is the author of poetry, fiction, essays, and four plays. In 1993, Governor Robert Casey named Dr. Hazo Pennsylvania’s first State Poet Laureate and he held this honor until 2003. From his first book, through the National Book Award finalist for Once for the Last Bandit, to his newest poems, he explores themes of mortality and love, passion and art, courage and grace in a style that is unmistakably his own.
Dr. Hazo suggests that “the absence of poetry in public speech can only be remedied by poetry itself. Poetry is the language of ‘felt speech,’ which is the only form of speech that is memorable. We cannot forget it even if we try. I will try to give examples of this from my own poetry and by the poetry of several other poets and let the differences speak for themselves. The unpoetic language that we hear and read on a daily basis simply does not answer the need we have for something deeper. Only poetry gives that.”
As the founder and Director/President of the International Poetry Forum, Dr. Hazo has brought more than 800 poets and performers to Pittsburgh in the past forty years. These have included Nobel Awardees (Heaney, Walcott, Paz, Milosz), Pulitzer Prize winners (Merwin, Kumin, Wilbur, Kinnell, Kooser and others), Academy Award recipients (Gregory Peck, Princess Grace of Monaco, Eva Marie Saint, Anthony Hopkins, John Houseman, Jose Ferrer) as well as public figures who understand the relationship of poetry to public speech (Senator Eugene McCarthy and Queen Noor of Jordan), playwrights and composers (Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, Gian Carlo Menotti) and new poets of significance and promise.
Dr. Hazo is McAnulty Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Duquesne University, where he taught for forty-three years. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Arts degree from Duquesne University and his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. He has received eleven honorary doctorates and has been awarded the Hazlett Award for Excellence in Literature from the Governor of Pennsylvania, the Forbes Medal from the Fort Pitt Museum for Outstanding Cultural Contributions to Western Pennsylvania, the Elizabeth Kray Award for Outstanding Service to Poetry from New York University, and the Griffin Award for Creative Writing from the University of Notre Dame. In 2003, Samuel Hazo received the Maurice English Poetry Award for his 2002 distinguished book of poems – Just Once: New and Selected Poems. His most recent book, The Time Remaining, was published earlier this year.
