Acclaimed Poet to Read at UPB

Acclaimed poet Kevin Prufer, whose poetry addresses tragedies both common, such as a car accident, and historical, such as the mind of Caligula, will share his writings Tuesday, Sept. 30, at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. He will read his poetry at 7:30 p.m. in the Bromeley Family Theater in Blaisdell Hall, as part of the University’s Spectrum Series. A reception will follow. The event is free and open to the public.

“What makes Prufer’s poems unique is how he approaches all those elements of our lives that we’ve come to accept as ordinary like cars, constant war, rampant crime or merely slicing up cucumbers on a cutting board,” said Carol Newman, writing instructor at Pitt-Bradford. “He leads us into their ordinariness and then uses language to crack them open, exposing realities like imminent death and our society’s frightening deterioration."

One of Prufer’s books, “Fallen from a Chariot,” was named among the best books of the last 25 years by the editors of Bloomsbury Review. He also has written “National Anthem,” “The Finger Bone,” and “Strange Wood,” which received the Winthrop Prize.

His work has also appeared in Ploughshares, The Best American Poetry, The Virginia Quarterly Review and The Georgia Review. Some of his works have received Pushcart Prizes and the Prairie Schooner/Strauss Award.

Besides contributing poems, he serves as editor for the journals Pleiades: A Journal of New Writing and American Book Review and books “New European Poets,” “Dark Horses: Poets on Overlooked Poems,” and “The New Young American Poets,” winner of one of the 10 best poetry books of the year by The American Library Association.

Prufer received an undergraduate degree from the College of Letters at Wesleyan University and graduate degrees from Hollins University and Washington University. He lives in Missouri with his wife, Mary, and is a professor of English at the University of Central Missouri.