ODU's Blumenthal Releases New Book of Poetry
Michael Blumenthal, Old Dominion University's Mina Hohenberg Darden Chair in Creative Writing, has published a new volume of poetry titled "And" (BOA Editions, May 2009).
Blumenthal will give a poetry reading and book signing at Prince Books in downtown Norfolk at 7 p.m. Friday, May 15. Directions to Prince Books are available at www.prince-books.com.
"Blumenthal the latter-day psalmist encompasses in these brilliant poems both chatter and stillness, pantheism and skepticism, rapture and resignation to the ordinary," poet Phillip Lopate said in a review of the book.
"Few new books of American poems have more unity - or more happiness - than the latest from Blumenthal," said Publisher's Weekly in an April review (http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6652055.html?industryid=47159).
One of the poems from the collection, "And Here You Are," was featured on "Poetry Daily" for the "Today's Poem" selection on Monday, May 11 (http://poems.com/poem.php?date=14376).
Blumenthal, who was on sabbatical from ODU during the spring semester to serve as the Copenhaver Visiting Chair of Law at West Virginia University's College of Law, was recently awarded the 2009 Robert L. Kahn Prize for poetry from the Society for Contemporary American Literature in German.
Blumenthal is also the author of the memoir "All My Mothers and Fathers" (Harper Collins, 2002) and "Dusty Angel" (BOA Editions, 1999). His novel "Weinstock Among the Dying," which won Hadassah Magazine's Harold U. Ribelow Prize for the best work of Jewish fiction, was recently reissued in paperback, and his collection of essays from Central Europe, "When History Enters the House," was published in 1998.
For more information about Blumenthal and his work, visit http://www.michael-blumenthal.com.
For links to recent ODU stories about Blumenthal and his work, visit: