Mining and Labor Activist to Talk at SBU

Author Mark Nowak, a mining and labor activist, will talk about his recent work at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the Walsh Amphitheater.

A Buffalo native, Nowak was a guest commentator on the Al Jazeera English news network this week as the Chilean mine rescue began.

“Nowak is a poet, but he’s more likely to be found doing workshops with auto workers in Michigan or South Africa than doing the usual poetry reading or tour,” said Dr. Kaplan Harris, associate professor in the English department, which is sponsoring Nowak’s visit.

A 2010 Guggenheim fellow, Nowak is the author of “Coal Mountain Elementary” (Coffee

House Press, 2009) and “Shut Up Shut Down” (Coffee House Press, 2004). He frequently speaks about global working class policies and issues, most recently on Al Jazeera, BBC World News America, and Pacifica Radio’s “Against the Grain.”

Nowak is the director of the Rose O’Neill Literary House at Washington College in Chestertown, Md.

For more information on Nowak’s talk, contact Harris at kharris@sbu.edu.