In Partnership with Honolulu Museum of Art, The Merwin Conservancy Now Brings its
Popular ‘Green Room’ Literary Salon Series to the Doris Duke Theatre
in Addition to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center
Photo: Rachel Eliza Griffiths
On Friday, February 9th and Saturday, February 10th, 2018,The Merwin Conservancy will present two intimate evenings with current U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith in The Green Room, an environmental and literary salon series that is hosted by the Conservancy and fosters a reverence for language, nature, and imagination. Both evening programs will begin with a special welcome presented by Hawaii’s State Poet Laureate, Kealoha.
About Smith’s writing, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said, “her work travels the world and takes on its voices; brings history and memory to life; calls on the power of literature as well as science, religion and pop culture. With directness and deftness, she contends with the heavens or plumbs our inner depths—all to better understand what makes us most human.”
The Friday, February 9th event begins at 7:00pm at the McCoy Studio Theater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center (MACC). Tickets are $25 per person, with a $10 ticket rate for students with a valid student I.D. Tickets are available at the MACC Box Office, by phone at 808-242-SHOW, or online at http://www.mauiarts.org/merwin. Advance purchase is suggested, as seating is limited.
The Saturday, February 10th event begins at 7:00pm in the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Tickets are $20 per person, with a $15 rate for museum members. Tickets are available at the theater’s box office, at both museum locations’ visitor information centers, by phone at 808-532-6097, or online at http://bit.ly/TKSHoMA, when purchased in advance. Advance purchase is suggested, as seating is limited.
“The fact that Tracy K. Smith is joining us for two appearances in Hawaii during her tenure as U.S. Poet Laureate speaks to her generous spirit and her passion for reading for audiences across the country,” said Jason Denhart, Executive Director at The Merwin Conservancy. “We are truly honored and privileged that she will be here to share her gifts with us. We are also very excited to now bring The Green Room to O‘ahu through our new partnership with Honolulu Museum of Art.”
Tracy K. Smith is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Ordinary Light (Knopf, 2015) and three books of poetry. Her poetry collection Life on Mars won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and was selected as a New York Times Notable Book. Duende won the 2006 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and an Essence Literary Award. The Body’s Question was the winner of the 2002 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Smith was the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writers Award in 2004 and a Whiting Award in 2005. In 2014 the Academy of American Poets awarded Smith with the Academy Fellowship, awarded to one poet each year to recognize distinguished poetic achievement. She is the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities, and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University. Her next collection of poems, Wade in the Water, is forthcoming in 2018.
In 2017, Smith was appointed the 22nd United States Poet Laureate. Her other awards and honors include a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, a 2004 Rona Jaffe Writers Award, a 2008 Essence Literary Award, a grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, a fellowship from the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, and a 2005 Whiting Award. She is the director of Princeton University’s creative writing program and lives in New Jersey.
Smith will make both appearances in The Green Room with a reading of her poetry, followed by an intimate Q&A with the audience, and book signing at a courtyard reception with refreshments and book fair.
The Maui evening is made possible by the generous support of FIM Group, the presenting sponsor of the event at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center.
The Honolulu evening is co-presented by The Merwin Conservancy and Honolulu Museum of Art, and generously sponsored by Halekulani Hotel.
A portion of ticket sales from both events benefits the Hawaii non-profit, The Merwin Conservancy.
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About Tracy K. Smith (BIO)
In 2017, Tracy K. Smith was appointed the 22nd United States Poet Laureate. She is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Ordinary Light (Knopf, 2015) and three books of poetry. Her collection Life on Mars won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and was selected as a New York Times Notable Book. Duende won the 2006 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and an Essence Literary Award. The Body’s Question was the winner of the 2002 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Smith was the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writers Award in 2004 and a Whiting Award in 2005. In 2014 the Academy of American Poets awarded Smith with the Academy Fellowship, awarded to one poet each year to recognize distinguished poetic achievement. She is the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Professor in the Humanities, and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University. Her next collection of poems, Wade in the Water, is forthcoming in 2018.
Praise for Tracy K. Smith:
“The surfaces of a Tracy K. Smith poem are beautiful and serene, but underneath, there is always a sense of an unknown vastness. Her poems take the risk of inviting us to imagine, as the poet does, adehat it is to travel in another person’s shoes.” —Toi Derricotte
“Smith’s spare yet beautiful prose transforms her story into a shining example of how one person’s shared memories can brighten everyone’s world.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
