David Mason

Colorado Poet Laureate: David Mason

Thursday, October 6, 2011 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm
  • Library Hall

Colorado Poet Laureate David Mason presents a FREE public lecture and  community conversation --
Poetry and the Public: What is the role of the poet in a republic?

Mason discusses two common images of the poet - as citizen and as rebel outsider - and explores their meaning for contemporary society, including readings of a variety of poems by himself and others.

A book signing follows the talk. Mason's books will be available for purchase at the event, courtesy of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore.

About David Mason
David Mason’s books of poems include The Buried Houses (winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize), The Country I Remember (winner of the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award), and Arrivals. His verse novel, Ludlow, was published in 2007, and named best poetry book of the year by the Contemporary Poetry Review and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. It was also featured on the PBS News Hour. Author of a collection of essays, The Poetry of Life and the Life of Poetry, his memoir, News from the Village, appeared in 2010. A new collection of essays, Two Minds of a Western Poet, followed in 2011. Mason has also co-edited several textbooks and anthologies, including Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry, Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism, Twentieth Century American Poetry, and Twentieth Century American Poetics: Poets on the Art of Poetry. His poetry, prose and translations have appeared in such periodicals as The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Nation, The New Republic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry, Agenda, Modern Poetry in Translation, The New Criterion, The Yale Review, The Hudson Review, The American Scholar, The Irish Times, and The Southern Review. He has also written the libretti for composer Lori Laitman’s opera of The Scarlet Letter and her oratorio, Vedem. He recently won the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Creativity in Motion Prize for the development of a new libretto. A former Fulbright Fellow to Greece, he now serves as co-director of the creative writing program at Colorado College and the Poet Laureate of Colorado.

Find David Mason's books in the BWML collection.

What is a Poet Laureate?
The Colorado Poet Laureate honors an outstanding poet in our state, and supports his or her efforts to promote an appreciation of poetry throughout Colorado. He or she serves a four-year term, giving public presentations at the State Capitol, schools, libraries and literary festivals. Colorado was the second state in the country, after California, to name a poet laureate when Alice Polk Hill was appointed by Governor Oliver Shoup in 1919. Since then, five others have served: Nellie Burget Miller (1923-1952), Margaret Clyde Robertson (1952-1954), Milford E. Shields (1954), Thomas Hornsby Ferril (1979-1988), Mary Crow (1996-2010). David Mason was selected as Colorado's current poet laureate in 2010.

Special thanks to Bear Claw Condominiums for sponsoring this event.