INDIANAPOLIS — The Fall 2014 Rufus & Louise Reiberg Reading Series at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis features poets Marcus Wicker and Marianne Boruch and novelist Randa Jarrar.
The Department of English in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI is the series sponsor. All events, which take place at various locations on the IUPUI campus, are free and open to the public.
The series kicks off with poet Marcus Wicker at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9 in the IUPUI University Library Lilly Auditorium, 755 W. Michigan St. This event is co-sponsored by the Office for Academic Affairs at IUPUI.
D.A. Powell selected Wicker’s poetry collection, “Maybe the Saddest Thing” (Harper Perennial), for the National Poetry Series. Wicker received a 2011 Ruth Lilly Fellowship and his work has appeared in American Poetry Review and many other magazines. Wicker is an assistant professor of English at the University of Southern Indiana.
Wicker served as the final judge for the 2014 IUPUI Poetry Contest. Contest winners and finalists will share their original poems in an awards ceremony preceding the Wicker reading.
Poet Marianne Boruch will read her work at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 30 in the Emerson Hall Anatomy Lecture Hall, 545 Barnhill Drive. This event is co-sponsored by the IU School of Medicine, the Medical Humanities and Health Studies Program in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, and the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute.
Boruch is the author of the recently published poetry collection, “Cadaver, Speak,” along with eight other books of poetry. Her poetry has been anthologized in the 1997 and 2009 editions of “The Best American Poetry.” Boruch, a Fulbright visiting professor at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2012, currently teaches creative writing at Purdue University.
Novelist Randa Jarrar will conclude the fall series with a reading at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 17, at the Herron School of Art & Design Basile Auditorium, 735 W. New York St. This reading is part of the Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here Symposium and is co-sponsored by the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute in collaboration with the IUPUI Library. This event is free but registration is required.
Jarrar is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. She grew up in Kuwait and Egypt, and moved to the United States after the first Gulf War. Her novel, “A Map of Home,” was published in half a dozen languages and won a Hopwood Award, an Arab-American Book Award, and was named one of the best novels of 2008 by the Barnes and Noble Review. In 2010 Jarrar was named one of the most gifted writers of Arab origin under the age of 40.
The Rufus & Louise Reiberg Series was founded in 1997 in honor of former IUPUI Department of English chair and Professor Emeritus Rufus Reiberg and his wife, Louise. The series is made possible by the generous support of the Reiberg Family; the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute; the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research; the Office of Academic Affairs; University College; and University Library.
Visitor parking for the readings is available in the North Street Garage, 819 W. North St.; the Vermont Street Garage, 1004 W. Vermont St.; and the Sports Complex Garage, 875 W. New York St.
For additional information, contact Terry Kirts at tkirts@iupui.edu or 317-274-8929 or visit http://liberalarts.iupui.edu/reiberg. Facebook user can “like” the series’ page at The Rufus & Louise Reiberg Reading Series @ IUPUI.