Cal State L.A. opens Center
for Contemporary Poetry & Poetics

Los Angeles, CA – Poetry, already in motion for decades at California State University, Los Angeles, just accelerated with the recent creation of the Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics.

Supported by a $750,000 bequest from Virginia E. Smith, Cal State L.A.’s new Center brings together scholars, students, poets and the community for classes, readings, dialogue, research, celebrations and presentations.

For its inaugural event, the Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics will present interdisciplinary artists Mendi+Keith Obadike Thursday, Nov. 9, at 6:30 p.m. in a free multimedia public performance in Cal State L.A.’s Fine Arts Building gallery. The artists will also discuss their work with Cal State L.A. students in “The African American Poetic Tradition” course and informally.

The Obadikes, whose music and live art have been exhibited internationally, premiered their Internet opera, “The Sour Thunder,” in 2002.

“The center,” said its director, Lauri Ramey, “puts all poetry programming at Cal State L.A. under one umbrella; and it allows us to expand.”

It also advances the campus’s poetic legacy, which includes annually hosting the Jean Burden Reading Series since 1986 and, more recently, the British Council Poet-in-Residence.

A published poet, Ramey formerly directed creative writing programs at Hampton University in Virginia and Cardiff University in Wales. She joined Cal State L.A.’s English faculty in 2004.

Calling poetry “the least-taught genre in literature,” she does not mince words when making its case: “In challenging political times, poetry has a long history of coming to the forefront. People sometimes don’t know where else to turn to express themselves.”

She said the center, in fostering “poetry at the highest possible level across all boundaries,” brings diverse components of the community together. For example, a group of eighth-grade students from Chester W. Nimitz Middle School—along with members of their families—will attend the Obadikes’ presentation, continuing a partnership already established between the Huntington Park school and the University. The Center also works with researchers and others from the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.

“Poetry can be accessible and exciting for everyone,” said Ramey. “With the Center, we want to create a very productive environment for making poetry, one that moves across disciplines. There’s nothing else quite like it in California.”

Next spring, Andrew Motion, England’s current poet laureate, will be the honored reader at the 2007 Jean Burden Poetry Reading on April 11; and Nii Ayikwei Parkes will spend a month at Cal State L.A. teaching and presenting as a British Council Poet-in-Residence. A native of Ghana, Parkes writes poetry, short stories, articles, songs and rap for all ages.

The guest poets visit Cal State L.A. classes to share their work, to critique performances and to encourage students, and to offer insights into poetics – the making of poems. They also make selected appearances in the community.

The Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics joins Cal State L.A.’s Integrated Humanities Center, which includes the Reel Rasquache Film Festival of Latino Cinema, the American Communities Program and the Center for the Study of Genders and Sexualities.

For details about the Poetry Center, contact Cal State L.A.’s College of Arts and Letters at (323) 343-4001 or Ramey at (323) 343-4165.

Additional contacts and resources:

Lauri Ramey, Director
Center for Contemporary Poetry and Poetics
Phone: (323) 343-4165
Email: Lramey@calstatela.edu
http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/lramey/

Other literary links at Cal State L.A.:

Jean Burden Annual Poetry Series
http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/dburden.htm

2007 Jean Burden Poetry Reading: Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate of England
http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/dburden.htm

British Council USA Writer-in-Residence program at Cal State L.A.
http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/dbc.htm

2007 British Council Writer-in-Residence: Nii Ayikwei Parkes
http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/njoseph.htm

Statement, the literary magazine of California State University, Los Angeles
http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/sthome.htm

David L. Kubal Memorial Lecture Series
http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/dkubal.htm

Cal State L.A. Department of English
http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 190,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, to be housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center now under construction. www.calstatela.edu

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