小黄片视频

Dozens of Wick Award Winners to Return for 40th Anniversary

Wick Poetry Center will host a three-day gala celebration in September

More than 40 poets who have won acclaim from 小黄片视频鈥檚 Wick Poetry Center are expected to return to the Kent Campus in September to celebrate the center鈥檚 40th anniversary.

David Hassler
David Hassler

The group of poets has won either the Ohio Chapbook Prize, sponsored by the 小黄片视频 Press and the Wick Center, or the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize.

鈥淭his anniversary will be a celebration of the power of poetry and will be a great reunion for the ever-expanding Wick family of poets,鈥 said David Hassler, the Bob and Walt Wick Executive Director of the center.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 exciting is we now have 40 former Wick authors coming back, so we鈥檒l have author readings at the beginning of the first night," he told 小黄片视频 Today.

Maggie Anderson, first director of the Wick Poetry Center.
Maggie Anderson

The celebration, Sept. 19-21, will be packed with panel discussions, workshops and poetry readings, culminating in a gala dinner on Sept. 21.

Among those returning will be poet Maggie Anderson, founding director of the Wick program, which has provided a platform for global creative voices in its 40 years.  

鈥淥ur 40th celebration will be a testament to the ongoing mission of the Wick Poetry Center to encourage new voices and to bring poetry to the most urgent and evolving needs of our communities through readings, workshops, panels, interactive exhibits and digital platforms,鈥 Hassler said. 鈥淚t will also be a joyous homecoming for so many of our past Wick authors, scholarship winners, student interns, community members and the Wick family.鈥  

As a special feature, no one will be denied entry to the celebration due to inability to pay.

Registration for the three-day event is offered on a pay-what-you-can scale, allowing attendees to contribute according to their means. The standard registration fee is $125 for access to all events and receptions. At registration, there also is an option for those who can afford it, to make an extra donation to 鈥減ay it forward,鈥 to help cover the costs of those who cannot pay the full price.

鈥淔or four decades, the Wick Poetry Center has been dedicated to fostering a welcoming community through free and accessible readings and events,鈥 Hassler said. 鈥淗aving people be able to take part is our top priority, and we've taken special measures to ensure everyone can join in our anniversary celebration.鈥 

All-Star Lineup

The event will focus on the themes of Poetry and Healing, Poetry and Science, Poetry and Peace and Poetry and Social Justice, and will feature a star-studded lineup of poets including:  

: Irish Poet and theologian, 脫鈥疶uama鈥檚 work centers around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. He is the host of On Being鈥檚鈥淧oetry Unbound鈥 and the author of鈥淧oetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your Life.鈥 鈥淔eed the Beast鈥 is his most recent collection with 鈥淜itchen Hymns,鈥 a volume of original poems, and an essayed poetry anthology, 鈥淧oetry Unbound: Poems on Being with Each Other,鈥 expected to be released this year. From 2014-2019, 脫 Tauma was the leader of the Corrymeela Community, Ireland鈥檚 oldest peace and reconciliation community.  

Based in San Antonio, Texas, Nye is a poet and children鈥檚 author and was the Poetry Foundation's Young People's Poet Laureate from 2019-2022. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Book Critics Circle, the Lavan Award, the Paterson Poetry Prize, the Carity Randall Prize, the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry award, the Robert Creeley Prize, and many Pushcart Prizes. From 2010 to 2015, she served as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. In 2018, she was awarded the Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Texas Institute of Letters.

 

May Prentice House/Wick Poetry Center
The home of the Wick Poetry Center will be formally renamed the Gaston-Prentice House on Aug. 28, 2024.

Award-winning poet, essayist and translator, Hirshfield is the author of 10 collections of poetry, and two collections of essays,鈥痑nd has edited and co-translated four books collecting the work of world poets from the past. In 2017, with the March for Science in Washington, she founded Poets for Science, an interactive exhibit of science poems and writing invitations housed at the Wick Poetry Center, which has traveled to venues nationwide.  

Based in Chicago, Matejka is editor of鈥疨oetry鈥痬agazine. A graduate of Indiana University Bloomington and the master of fine arts program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Matejka served as poet laureate of Indiana in 2018-19. He is the author of鈥淭he Devil鈥檚 Garden,鈥濃痺hich won the New York/New England Award and鈥淢ixology,鈥 a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series. His third collection,鈥淭he Big Smoke,鈥 was awarded the 2014 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. His most recent collection of poems,鈥淪omebody Else Sold the World鈥 was a finalist for the University of North Texas 2022 Rilke Prize and the 2022 Indiana Authors Award.鈥疕is first graphic novel鈥淟ast on His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century鈥 was published in February 2023.  

All four will give readings and host panel discussions, while Wick staff will guide attendees through writing workshops and immersive tours of interactive exhibits centered around the four themes.

Among the Friday events, Hassler said, 脫鈥疶uama will interview Matejka, for a segment of his 鈥淧oetry Unbound,鈥 podcast, giving the anniversary an international media platform.  

鈥淭he 40th anniversary will truly be a celebration,鈥 Hassler said.  

WICK HISTORY

Brothers Bob and Walt Wick first established scholarships in 1984 to support undergraduate poets at the university. Bob was a sculptor and former art department faculty member at 小黄片视频, and the scholarships were born out of a desire to honor and memorialize Bob鈥檚 son Stan (1962-1980) and Walt鈥檚 son Tom (1956-1973), both of whom died as teenagers on the same day, seven years apart.

Entry to the Maj Ragain Poetry Park
Maj Ragain Poetry Park at the Wick Poetry Center.

Over the next 20 years, the scholarships expanded into the Wick Poetry Program, which steadily increased its presence on the Kent Campus and involvement within the community. In 2004, the Wick Poetry Program was officially named the Wick Poetry Center, and in 2009, its popular Traveling Stanzas debuted as a collaboration between the center and 小黄片视频 visual communication design students.

In 2014, the Wick Poetry Center renovated a residence that once belonged to May H. Prentice, the first female faculty member of 小黄片视频. In this new location, the center also created the Maj Ragain Poetry Park, a peaceful space in the heart of the Lefton Esplanade, featuring the Edwin S. Gould Amphitheatre, 鈥淪eated Earth鈥 bronze sculpture by Bob Wick, and the Joan and Ron Burbick Outdoor Gallery. On Aug. 28, the house will be renamed the Gaston-Prentice House to reflect the enduring legacy of Prentice and the generosity of former 小黄片视频 Provost Paul Gaston and his wife Eileen. 

LASTING LEGACY OF GENEROSITY

Although the Wick brothers have both passed away, the Wick family continues to support the center. A recent gift of $1 million brings the family鈥檚 total lifetime commitment to 小黄片视频 to more than $3.5 million.  

Bob Wick
Bob Wick

Chris Wick, son of Walt, pledged the donation in November 2023, acting as a representative for his family. The gift created an endowed position for the executive director of the center to maintain the kind of visionary, innovative leadership that has led to the center鈥檚 elevated national profile and highly regarded status and will memorialize the brothers鈥 tremendous efforts to bring the power of poetry to the larger community.

Over the years, Hassler said the Wick brothers and their family members have repeatedly told him that the joy they have received from watching the center grow and expand has far exceeded the amount of money they have donated for it and has given meaning to the untimely deaths of their sons. 鈥淭hey felt the value of what they received back in the spirit of the program is far greater than any dollar amount they ever gave to 小黄片视频,鈥 he said.

Chris Wick (left) and David Hassler (right) stand in front of the Wick Poetry Center鈥檚 Poets for Science exhibition at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs鈥 2023 Conference and Bookfair.
Chris Wick, left, with David Hassler

鈥淭hanks to the original vision and generosity of Bob and Walt Wick, and now Chris Wick, our center will continue to grow, transforming the lives of students and community members, locally and nationally, welcoming all into the ever-expanding Wick family of poets,鈥 Hassler said. 鈥淚 am most proud of how, through the passion, skill and dedication of our staff and student interns, the center continues to innovate new ways to bring poetry to everyday lives.鈥

POSTED: Monday, August 19, 2024 03:46 PM
Updated: Monday, September 16, 2024 11:07 AM
WRITTEN BY:
Lisa Abraham