The Montgomery County Literary Arts Council will host poet Kurt Heinzelman on Thursday, October 16th, at 7:00 pm at Lone Star College Montgomery in room B-102. The event is free to the public.
Heinzelman is a poet, historian, translator, editor, and scholar. He retired in 2021 from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program and the Michener Center for Writers. He is Executive Curator for Academic Programs at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Co-Founder of Bat City Review, and has been elected to the Texas Institute of Letters. A native of Wisconsin, Heinzelman attended school in New England, held a Fulbright at Edinburgh (Scotland) University, a Rockefeller Grant to Bellagio (Italy), and was a Visiting Professor at Université de Paris III. He was appointed Honorary Professor at Swansea University in Wales for his service on the Board of Directors of the International Dylan Thomas Prize. He lives in San Clemente, California, with his wife, scholar Susan Sage Heinzelman.
Heinzelman has been a multiple nominee for the Pushcart Prize, and his first two books of poetry, The Halfway Tree and Black Butterflies, were both finalists for Poetry Book of the Year from the Texas Institute of Letters. His latest collection is Pollen, Salt, & Chimes: New Poems & Others. “Rich and inventive, Kurt Heinzelman’s poems are funny, serious, and everything in between, often all at once … always a pleasure.” -Lawrence Raab, author of April at the Ruins
“Heinzelman’s poems consistently possess the qualities of music and intelligence.” -Steven Weinberg, Nobel Laureate in Physics, author of To Explain the World
“Heinzelman creates a poetry of place with an unerring eye and ear for the ways that landscape can be mapped in the twists and turns of language.” -Michael Davidson, author of Ghostlier Demarcations.
The Writers in Performance Series is made possible through the partnership and support of Lone Star College Montgomery, SWIRL: Literary & Arts Journal, Greater Conroe Arts Alliance and City of Conroe Arts & Culture grants. For more information: Dave Parsons, 936-524-6537 or Cliff Hudder, Clifford.w.hudder@lonestar.edu