Description
Part of the Lifelong Fellowship portfolio, The Scholars’ Library is a monthly book talk series, where Rhodes alumni can come together to present, discover and debate their literary works. If you’re interested in getting involved, please reach out to Georgie Thurston at georgie.thurston@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk
For our August event, we are pleased to invite you to take part in a conversation with Jennifer Davis Michael (Alabama & Christ Church 1989) , author of 'Dubious Breath'
In dialogue with a fellow Scholar, amongst other topics and reading a poem or two, Jennifer will discuss the creative process, the role of poetry in today's world, the use of form vs free verse and what it is like to be both a Scholar and a maker of poetry.
Scholars may obtain a copy of Dubious Breath' here: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/dubious-breath-by-jennifer-davis-michael/
Framed by the claustrophobic experience of the Covid-19 pandemic, these poems share a concern with the fragility of the earth and our bodies on the earth, as well as the webs we weave through virtual means of connection. Michael draws on Biblical and mythological allusions as well as personal anecdotes, in both formal and free verse, to chart the porous boundaries of our current world and to create a space for mutual dwelling, with all the risks entailed in that cohabitation.
Jennifer Davis Michael (Alabama & Christ Church 1989) is a professor of English literature at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, where she specializes in British Romanticism. She’s the author of a scholarly monograph, Blake and the City (Bucknell University Press, 2006). Dubious Breath is her second chapbook of poems; the first, Let Me Let Go, appeared from Finishing Line Press in 2020. Her poems have appeared in such journals as Oxford Poetry, Southern Poetry Review, Think, and Quarterly West.
Register:
Please register via this EventBrite page. Your link to join the conversation can be found in your confirmation email, so please keep this safe.
This event is open to the public and will be recorded.
Q & A:
Please feel free to submit any questions in advance to alumni@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk or you can use the chat function within Zoom to ask questions directly during the live event.