Event

A Tribute to Marianne Moore

Notable authors gather to celebrate Marianne Moore's New Collected Poems, a landmark edition of one of the major innovators of poetic modernism. Editor of the new anthology Heather Cass White joins Margo Jefferson, Timothy Donnelly, Maureen N. McLane and Eleanor Chai, who will appeal for their favorite Moore poem and, as a final argument, read their poem of choice. The evening also includes a reading of names that Moore proposed to the Ford Motor Company in 1957 for its new line of cars (the company turned down her suggestions, such as Utopian Turtletop, and named it the Edsel); as well as highlights from her collaboration with Cassius Clay on his album I Am the Greatest. Members of the Brooklyn Art Song Society close the event with a performance of two songs by Virgil Thompson that set Moores poetry to music.

We welcome you to join us at 6:30PM at the Camperdown Elm in Prospect Park and spend some time admiring the tree while reading "The Camperdown Elm." Or join us directly at the Central Librarys Dweck Auditorium for the 7:30pm program.

This is a Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend Event. Presented in collaboration with Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Poetry Society of America and Prospect Park Alliance.

Photo Credit: LIFE: Marianne Moore, 1953, Esther Bubley / Science and Society Picture Library (SSPL).