Minnesota poet and anthologist William Reichard will be at Gustavus Adolphus College Wednesday, Nov. 2 to read from his newly published anthology American Tensions: Literature of Identity and the Search for Social Justice. The poetry, fiction, and essays featured in American Tensions address the most pressing issues of our time. The reading will begin at 7 p.m. in the Melva Lind Interpretive Center, located on the grounds of the College’s Linnaeus Arboretum.
Reichard is a writer, editor and educator who makes his home in St. Paul, Minn. He is the author of five collections of poetry including Sin Eater, This Brightness, How To, and An Alchemy in the Bones. He has also published a chapbook titled To Be Quietly Spoken and revised and edited the award-winning memoir The Evening Crowd at Kirmser’s: A Gay Life in the 1940’s.
Reichard is a program director and faculty member for the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs, where he teaches two interdisciplinary seminars on the intersections of art, literature, and social justice. He holds a Ph.D. in Contemporary American Literature and an M.A. in Creative writing, both from the University of Minnesota.
Reichard has been the recipient of several fellowships and awards. His second book, How To, was one of five finalists for the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. An Alchemy in the Bones won a Minnesota Voices Prize and was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award, as was This Brightness. He has been an artist-in-residence at the headlands Center for the Arts and at the Centrum Foundation. He’s received grants and awards from the Jerome Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and The Loft Literary Center.
Reichard’s appearance at Gustavus is free and open to the public. For more information about this event, contact Professor of English Phil Bryant at prez@gustavus.edu or 507-933-7393.
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