Dave Mason’s Keynote Address from 2008 Published in Book of Essays

RJA member and Colorado Poet Laureate Dave Mason has a new collection of essays out, Two Minds of a Western Poet, published in the prestigious University of Michigan Poets on Poetry Series. The third essay in the book, pp. 29-41, “Some Narrative Poets of the American West,” is the keynote address Dave delivered at our meeting at Los Aptos in 2008. It is a substantial essay, and Dave also graciously acknowledges the RJA in the book’s preface. To read the essay, download it as a pdf or buy the book.

Tim Hunt Named Outstanding Researcher by Illinois State

RJA member Tim Hunt recently received one of three Outstanding College Research Awards from the College of Arts and Sciences at Illinois State University.

“Each recipient of this year’s Outstanding College Research Award has made outstanding contributions to his field,” says Dagmar Budikova, Interim Senior Associate Dean.” The college is proud to have them among its faculty at Illinois State.”

In the announcement, his scholarship on Robinson Jeffers, including editing the five-volume set of The Collected Poetry by Robinson Jeffers, was recognized.

“Hunt’s long scholarly relationship with Jeffers’ poetry is beginning to produce what seems to me some of the most original readings of the poet’s work that I have encountered,” said Joan Mullin, chair of the Illinois State Department of English.

Read more on the ISU website.

RJA President Publishes New Essay on Jeffers and Merwin

David J. Rothman, current RJA President, has just published a new essay on Jeffers and Merwin, A Prophecy of the Present: W. S. Merwin and the Legacy of Robinson Jeffers, in the current issue of an on-line journal, Sugar Mule. It is an expansion of the remarks he delivered when introducing Merwin at the 14th annual RJA conference in Honolulu in 2007.

Rothman is also teaching a four-week class on Jeffers, “Reading as a Writer: Robinson Jeffers,” through Lighthouse Writers Workshop.