Renowned poet, essayist, and translator Christopher Merrill will join the University Libraries for a reading and discussion of his work, including his most recently published work On the Road to Lviv, a book-length poem that bears witness to the war in Ukraine. In addition to his creative work, Merrill is director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, where he fosters a place of international exchange and cultural diplomacy through the field of creative writing. He will be joined in conversation by Matthias Goeritz, Professor of Practice in Comparative Literature.

Free and open to all, registration requested.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Comparative Literature and the Center for Literary Arts.

Christopher Merrill has published eight collections of poetry, including Watch Fire, for which he received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets; many edited volumes and translations; and six books of nonfiction, among them, Only the Nails Remain: Scenes from the Balkan Wars, Things of the Hidden God: Journey to the Holy Mountain, The Tree of the Doves: Ceremony, Expedition, War, and Self-Portrait with Dogwood. His writings have been translated into nearly forty languages; his journalism appears widely; his honors include a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government, numerous translation awards, and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial and Ingram Merrill Foundations. As director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa since 2000, Merrill has conducted cultural diplomacy missions to more than fifty countries. He served on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO from 2011-2018, and in April 2012 President Barack Obama appointed him to the National Council on the Humanities.

Matthias Goeritz is a German poet, translator, and novelist. He has written four poetry collections, four novels, and three novellas. He has received the Hamburg Literature Prize, the Mara Cassens Prize, the Robert Gernhardt Prize, and the William Gass Award.  His first volume of poetry was translated into English by Mary Jo Bang as Colonies of Paradise (Northwestern University Press, 2022).