FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Maureen Stokes, PIO
760.252.2411, ext. 7350
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
Contact:
Sharhonda Johnson, Public Information Office
760.252-2411, ext. 7499
Maureen Stokes, Public Information Officer
760.252.2411, ext. 7350
California Poet Laureate to Visit Barstow
"Top to Bottom" California tour celebrates National Poetry and Library Month
Barstow, Calif. – (March 28, 2007) California Poet Laureate Al Young will visit Barstow as part of his "Top to Bottom" tour of the Golden State on April 19, 2007.The visit corresponds with National Poetry and National Library month in April, and the tour is focused on California's rural areas.
"Like all culture, poetry travels where people often can't or don't," said Young. "The object of this tour is not so much to bring poetry to California's artistically vibrant communities but, rather, to bring out inspire and cheer the poetic impulse, which is human."
"Al Young has been extremely popular in rural California, and the tour will go through the Coastal Mountains, Central Valley, Sierra Nevada and Inland Empire," said Ray Tatar, Arts Specialist for the California Arts Council. "Exposure to the California Poet Laureate should be available to all Californians, not just those in the cities," he said.
Young is well known for the jazz rhythms in his work and often reads with a musical accompanist. A native of Mississippi who spent most of his adult life in the San Francisco Bay Area, he began publishing poems, articles and stories at a very young age. "Like jazz, Al Young is an original American voice," said Muriel Johnson, Director, California Arts Council.
Al Young, California Poet Laureate – Barstow Events – April 19, 2007
Young’s selection of poetry will be derived from past and current works: Heaven, The Sound of Dreams Remembered, Coastal Nights and Inland Afternoons. He will also be reading from brand new works including some poetry from his new book Something About the Blues, which will be released in October 2007.
Young has taught poetry and fiction writing at a number of universities nationwide, including the Universities of California at Berkeley, Santa Cruz and Davis; and Stanford University, among others. His works have appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Review, Seattle Review, Rolling Stone, and the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature. As a screenwriter, Young has worked with Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor.
Young often travels internationally, and has been a guest lecturer for the U.S. Department of State as a representative of African-American literature and culture. His work has been translated into various languages including German, Japanese, Spanish and Russian.
His numerous awards include the Wallace Stegner, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships; the PEN-USA Award for Non-Fiction; and the Pushcart Prize, as well as two American Book Awards and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year citation.
"He is an educator and a man with a passion for the Arts," said Schwarzenegger in the
announcement of Young's appointment in May of 2005. "His remarkable talent and sense of mission to bring poetry into the lives of Californians is an inspiration."
"'What am I doing here? How do I live? Who am I anyway? What can I give?' Such are the thoughts that spring up whenever I talk back and think back to a poem," said Young. "Whatever feelings, thoughts, reflections, ideas or hopes my poetry might spark, at heart I intend for them to re-ignite the sense of wonder and awe."
Members of the press interested in Al Young’s "Top to Bottom" poetry tour should contact Mary Beth Barber at 916-322-6588 or mbarber@caartscouncil.com, or Alma Paredes at 916-322-6555 or aparedes@caartscouncil.com. For general tour information or to attain contact information for tour coordinators in specific cities, please contact Ray Tatar at 916-322-6395 or rtatar@caartscouncil.com.
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