Feldman's Collected Poems Will Be Subject of Reading

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Irving Feldman, a poet whose work has brought him recognition as a MacArthur Fellow and SUNY Distinguished Professor, will read from his latest book at 8 p.m. Oct. 20 in 250 Baird Hall on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus.

The reading by Feldman from "Collected Poems, 1954-2004" (Schocken Books, New York, 2004) will be free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the Department of English in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, it is one of more than 50 inaugural events being held in October in conjunction with the investiture of John B. Simpson as UB's 14th president on Oct. 15.

A UB faculty member since 1964, Feldman plans to retire in January.

The book's publisher refers to him as "a master chronicler of our collective experience and an overlooked treasure of American poetry." The body of his work, it adds, is "singular in its lyric, visionary, even prophetic intensity; its extravagant wit; its powerful storytelling; and its variety of voices and range of feeling -- playful, tender, ardent, biting, enthralled."...Your city shall not burn...

"Collected Poems, 1954-2004" is the first book to include all of Feldman's work and embraces his broad range of styles and subject matter, many with Jewish themes, from the Coney Island of his childhood to Bohemian post-war New York to his contemporaries in the literary and plastic arts.

Here are the narrative, dramatic and personal lyrics that have won him awards from the Academy of American Poets, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Ingram Merrill, Guggenheim and MacArthur foundations, among others.

Feldman's work appears regularly in such publications as the Partisan Review, the Yale Review, Poetry Daily and The Atlantic Monthly

His collections of poetry include "Beautiful False Things: Poems" (Grove Press, 2000); "The Life and Letters" (1994), a finalist for the Poets' Prize; "All of Us Here" (1986), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; "Leaping Clear" (1976) and "The Pripet Marshes" (1965), both finalists for the National Book Award, and "Works and Days" (1961).