One of America’s leading poets, Li-Young Lee, will present a free public reading March 2, part of his three-day residency at SUNY Oswego. The 7:30 p.m. event in the Campus Center auditorium will help launch a campuswide focus on the interdisciplinary theme, “The Arts, Identity and Diaspora” in March.
Born of Chinese parents in Jakarta, Indonesia, Lee learned early about loss and exile. After spending a year as a political prisoner in then-President Sukarno’s jails, his father fled Indonesia with his family to escape anti-Chinese sentiment. After a five-year journey through Hong Kong, Macau and Japan, they settled in the United States. Lee’s reflective poetry often draws on those childhood experiences.
Lee is the author of four critically acclaimed books of poetry: “Behind My Eyes”; “Book of My Nights”; “Rose,” winner of the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award from New York University; and “The City in Which I Love You,” the 1990 Lamont Poetry Selection. His memoir “The Winged Seed: A Remembrance” received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.
Details of Lee’s visit and other “Arts, Identity and Diaspora” programs during March are available at http://www.oswego.edu/arts. For more information, contact John Shaffer at john.shaffer@oswego.edu or 312-2960.
Born of Chinese parents in Jakarta, Indonesia, Lee learned early about loss and exile. After spending a year as a political prisoner in then-President Sukarno’s jails, his father fled Indonesia with his family to escape anti-Chinese sentiment. After a five-year journey through Hong Kong, Macau and Japan, they settled in the United States. Lee’s reflective poetry often draws on those childhood experiences.
Lee is the author of four critically acclaimed books of poetry: “Behind My Eyes”; “Book of My Nights”; “Rose,” winner of the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award from New York University; and “The City in Which I Love You,” the 1990 Lamont Poetry Selection. His memoir “The Winged Seed: A Remembrance” received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.
Details of Lee’s visit and other “Arts, Identity and Diaspora” programs during March are available at http://www.oswego.edu/arts. For more information, contact John Shaffer at john.shaffer@oswego.edu or 312-2960.
