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Children of Grass: A Portrait of American Poetry
September 13, 2019 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm PDT
Free
Photographer B.A. Van Sise discusses his new book, Children of Grass: A Portrait of American Poetry. Also featuring readings by poets Jane Hirshfield and Dorianne Laux.
Praise for Children of Grass
“In Children of Grass, books fly around Alicia Ostriker like birds, Vijay Seshadri stands on a ladder propped against the air itself, and Mark Doty is growing from the forest floor. B.A. Van Sise’s photographs of contemporary poets, paired with their poems, are inspired, playful, and absolutely gorgeous. The word for what this book is, what this book gives me, is pleasure.” —Maggie Smith, author of Good Bones
“Van Sise’s imaginative, creative, and humorous eye reveals the ‘person’ of the poet and deeper meanings of their poems in ways that sometimes startle, but always feel truthful. That is the purpose of photography and poetry.” —David Hume Kennerly, Pulitzer Prize winner and former chief White House photographer
“Why do we desperately need books like this? At least for me, it’s because we occasionally need to be reminded that there are still mysteries out there, questions that have no answers. It is nice to be re-introduced to wonder.” —Arun Venugopal, WNYC
About Children of Grass
With this fascinating synthesis of word and image, internationally renowned photographer B.A. Van Sise offers a visually stimulating anthology that will enchant lovers of both poetry and photography. At times whimsical, surreal, challenging, enigmatic, joyful and sobering, these portraits— running adjacent to poems by each of their subjects—highlight some of the most influential poets of our time and celebrate creativity as only these poets in collaboration with Van Sise could convey. Children of Grass is also a timely homage to Walt Whitman—of whom Van Sise is a relative—and his masterpiece, “Leaves of Grass,” during this, the 200th anniversary of his birth. Children of Grass, will, like the work of its literary grandfather, stand as a lasting tribute to the vitality and creativity that flourishes in our country.