Award-winning Irish poet reads Thursday at Weinstein

Some consider poetry a performance art, words that are meant to be heard, not just read. Through the University of Richmond English Department's writers' series, students will get to hear internationally acclaimed Irish poet Vona Groarke read her poetry at 8 p.m. Thursday in Weinstein Hall's Brown-Alley Room.

Groake will be the third author to read during the series this spring. Two American poets, Katy Lederer and Jennifer Atkinson, kicked off the spring series.

Groarke is the Poet-in-Residence at Wake Forest University, where she teaches poetry. She has written four books of poetry and has won the Hennessy Award and the Brendan Behan Memorial Prize for her work.

Her third book, "Flight," won the Michael Hartnett Award in 2003.

Groarke was a co-holder of the Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University before coming to Wake Forest. Villanova was known for printing a great deal of Irish poetry at the time, she said. Most of Groarke's work was written in free verse and without a set style, she said.

"Each poem determines its own style," Groarke said.

Groarke contributed to "Verse," the literary magazine Richmond creative writing professor Brian Henry edits. Henry invited her to come and read during the writers' series.

"I had known of [Groarke] since the mid 1990s [and] I published her," he said. "She edited a special issue of 'Verse' in 1999 [which focused] on women Irish poets. The famous Irish poets [at the time] were all men, [with] one exception, and I knew that there were all these great women poets writing who weren't getting recognition in the United States, so I wanted her to do a special issue on that."

Along with Groarke, another Irish poet, Paul Muldoon, will read for the series on March 30, Henry said.

"We have an Israeli writer [coming], and we had two Australian writers in the fall," Henry said. "We try to do international reach, too, so it's not just American writers."

During the events, the author reads his or her work for about an hour and a half, which is followed by a question-and-answer session. There are always books on sale at the event if students want to have a copy signed by the author, Henry said.

The series also features fiction writers, but fiction writers cost a lot more money, creative writing professor David Stevens said. A lot of the poets who are speaking at the series are also known for other genres of work, Stevens said.

Israeli novelist Etgar Keret, who will read at Richmond on March 23, is a fiction writer as well as a filmmaker, Stevens said. Keret's film, "Jellyfish," was recently screened as a part of Richmond's International Film Series and won the Camera d'Or Prize at the Cannes film festival this year.

Steven's class read Keret's work, "The Girl on the Fridge," which is a collection of microfictions, or "really, really short" short stories.

Senior Kate Foss said she highly recommended the collection and was thrilled to come to the series and hear Keret read his work.

"He takes ordinary events and adds something really odd to them, but the way he writes them makes sense," Foss said. "He adds a new spin to ordinary topics and takes wild concepts and makes them so much more interesting."

Mark Doty, Stevens said, will also speak and is another poet known to be an excellent memoirist.

Organizers have worked to bring a range of people, from famous authors like Joyce Carol Oates to authors who have only written one or two books, Henry said.

"Sometimes we'll do a separate Q-and-A just for students," Henry said, "But if we think a lot of people will be coming in from the community or VCU, then we like to do something special for our students. But most of the time, it's mainly U of R people."

When Joyce Carol Oates came in 2007, the event was huge, Stevens said. The event was held in the Jepson Alumni Center and the room was packed, he said.

But when an author like Joyce Carol Oates reads in front of 200 people, it's not very intimate and the experience is quite different from reading to 50 people followed by a question-and-answer session, Henry said. Students actually get both, he said.

"They get the really well-known writers and also get to see people who are really good, but more available to spend time with them," he said.

Most of the writers who read at the series also come to Stevens' and Henry's creative writing classes.

"When writers come to creative writing class, I usually turn it into a question-and-answer session and open up the class to anyone who would like to come," Stevens said. "But sometimes, it's a formal reading."

There are many benefits to the series, Henry said. Students can see different models for themselves as writers and some students have been inspired to attend certain graduate schools after seeing specific authors at the events, he said.

Overall, the main purpose of the event is to show that writing is a "living art" and people are still doing it, Henry said.

For students who aspire to become writers, Groarke said, "Read lots. Work hard. And try not to get discouraged."

Contact reporter Ryan Clark at ryan.clark@richmond.edu