Posts Tagged 'Mary Karr'
Celebrated Author Mary Karr Returns to SUNY Canton for Living Writers Series Event
Acclaimed memoirist, poet and bestselling author Mary Karr will visit SUNY Canton this month to discuss her recently published poetry collection "Tropic of Squalor" as part of the college's Living Writers Series.
She will appear at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, in the Richard W. Miller Campus Center's Kingston Theater. The event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing after the event.
Karr is most widely known for her genre-defining memoirs, including "The Liars' Club," "Lit" and "Cherry," but regards herself primarily as a poet.
"Tropic of Squalor" was released in May and is her fifth book of poetry. She tackles serious themes of violence and suicide, but also incorporates flashes of comedy and joy. According to the publisher, Karr's "brazen verse calls us out of our psychic swamplands and into that hard-won awareness of the divine hiding in the small moments that make us human."
"In Mary Karr's most recent collection of poems, she explores among other things, the passing of three close friends," said SUNY Canton Associate Professor Phil K. LaMarche, who created the Living Writers Series. "The poems probe the intricacies of grief and faith with an unfaltering focus on the small glistening moments found in both life and loss."
After enduring a traumatic childhood in a small town in East Texas, a period which she writes about in her New York Times bestseller "The Liars' Club," Karr struggled with alcoholism from an early age, eventually getting sober and joining the Catholic Church. She describes writing as a spiritual experience, and her work in "Tropic of Squalor" is influenced by her faith.
"I felt like there was a story that needed to be told about my escape from Texas, which was like hell, to my current situation in New York City, where I see Christ all the time in the faces of bike messengers and doorway sleepers," said Karr in an interview with Syracuse University's Division of Marketing and Communications earlier this year. "There is such grace in the street life of the city. My goal is to capture a moment, so that it lasts forever."
Karr is a Guggenheim Fellow and has won Pushcart prizes for both her poetry and her essays. Her poems have appeared in major literary magazines such The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly. She is the Jesse Truesdell Peck Professor of English Literature at Syracuse University.
Karr's colleague and fellow New York Times bestselling author George Saunders, who visited the college in 2014 as part of the Living Writers Series, said of her work, "Mary uses poetry to investigate critical moral questions, such as 'How can we be better people, without sugarcoating our difficulties?' She is a beautifully frank and funny poet, and her work always is situated on something simple, essential and universal."
This is Karr's second appearance at SUNY Canton; she previously discussed her award-winning memoir "Lit" in 2012.
The final guest for the fall semester's installment of the Living Writers Series will be Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenya, who has just been selected by the National Book Foundation to receive the prestigious "5 Under 35" honor. His debut novel, "Friday Black," was released Oct. 23. He will appear at 6:30 p.m., Nov. 28, in the Kingston Theater.
Learn more about the Living Writers Series at www.canton.edu/writers.
Tags: George Saunders, Living Writers Series, Mary Karr, Phil LaMarche
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Best-Selling Author Coming to SUNY Canton
Mary Karr will be reading from "Lit: A Memoir" and answering questions about her writing at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25, in the Richard W. Miller Campus Center¹s Kingston Theater.
SUNY Canton will be hosting New York Times Best Sellers List author Mary Karr to open its Fall 2012 Living Writers Series.
Karr, who has won multiple awards for her non-fiction work, will be reading from her book "Lit: A Memoir" and answering questions about her writing at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25, in the Richard W. Miller Campus Center's Kingston Theater. The event is free and open to the public. Karr will be available for book signings at the end of her presentation.
"We are able to bring award-winning authors to SUNY Canton through our brand-new Living Writers (ENGL264) Course created within our humanities department," said School of Business and Liberal Arts Interim Dean Maureen P. Maiocco. "Assistant Professor Phil LaMarche created the class, and invited authors to enhance our culturally rich programming."
LaMarche described Karr as a writing rock star with relatable cathartic prose that modern students can easily identify with and learn from.
"Mary Karr's 'Lit' includes a cast of characters that make modern reality-shows look like a pack of rank amateurs," LaMarche said. "Her work is harrowing, hilarious and full of heart. Her story is no mere carnival ride, but a genuine tale of love, forgiveness and salvation."
Karr is most widely known for her best-selling memoirs, but regards herself primarily as a poet. She's a 2004 Guggenheim Fellow in poetry, and has written four volumes of verse, including "Sinners Welcome." Her most popular book to date is "The Liar's Club," which remained on the New York Times Best Seller's List for more than a year. Her most recent book "Lit: A Memoir," presents readers with the story of her alcoholism, recovery and conversion to Catholicism.
Future presenters include Daniel Torday, author of "The Sensualist" at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17, and Adam Levin, author of "The Instructions" at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14. Both events are scheduled to take place in the College's Kingston Theater and are free and open to the public.
Fall 2012 is the first semester that the ENGL264 course has been offered. Students enrolled in the class read the books by authors scheduled to visit the College. LaMarche plans to offer the Living Writers course, and the related Living Writers Series, again during the spring semester with several different authors.
Tags: Lit: A Memoir, Living Writers Series, Mary Karr, Maureen Maiocco, Phil LaMarche
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