On November 16th, 2017, the Eighth Annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading presented by the Humanities Institute and the Living Writers Series featured Dorianne Laux. The Annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading honors poet, teacher, and film critic Morton Marcus (1936–2009). Marcus, a nationally acclaimed poet, called Santa Cruz his home for more than fifty years. This annual poetry series continues Mort’s tradition of bringing acclaimed poets to Santa Cruz County, continues to acknowledge the significant role poetry has played in our community’s history, and works to maintain poetry’s influence in our county’s culture.
Scott Rappaport wrote about Laux for UC Santa Cruz News.
Event Photos:
About Dorianne Laux: Dorianne Laux’s fifth collection, The Book of Men, was awarded The Paterson Prize. Her fourth book of poems, Facts About the Moon won The Oregon Book Award and was short-listed for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Laux is also the author of Awake; What We Carry, a finalist for the National Book Critic’s Circle Award; Smoke; as well as a fine small press edition, The Book of Women. She is the co-author of the celebrated text The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. Laux teaches poetry in the Program in Creative Writing at North Carolina State University and is a founding faculty of Pacific University’s Low Residency MFA Program.
About Morton Marcus: The Morton Marcus Poetry Reading event commemorates Santa Cruz poet Morton Marcus who was a poet, author, teacher, film critic, as well as an activist for the arts. Born in New York City, Morton spent most of his professional life in Santa Cruz, California, and he is strongly associated with its poetry and art community. For more information visit www.mortonmarcus.com
Visit the Morton Marcus Archive in Special Collections at UCSC: http://www.oac.cdlib.
This community event was co-sponsored by: The Institute for Humanities Research, Living Writers Series, Porter Hitchcock Poetry Fund, Special Collections & Archives, Cowell College, Porter College, Ow Family Properties, Poetry Santa Cruz, Cabrillo College English Department, Bookshop Santa Cruz, and Santa Cruz Writes.