Former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey will read a new poem Friday during the keynote presentation at the AJC Decatur Book Festival.
Called “Meditation at Decatur Square,” the poem was written specifically to honor the 10th anniversary of the event, the country’s largest independent book festival.
“It’s something I’ve always dreamed of – to have an occasional poem written for the festival,” said festival co-founder and executive director Daren Wang. Wang asked Trethewey to write a poem for the anniversary, and was surprised when she said yes. “It is something very special to me,” he said.
Delivering the poem Friday, Trethewey will precede keynote speaker novelist Erica Jong on the stage at the Schwartz Performing Arts Center on the Emory University campus. Jong will appear in conversation with feminist writer Roxane Gay.
Trethewey, a Mississippi native, won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her 2006 collection, “Native Guard.” She was appointed U.S. poet laureate in 2012, and served for two years.
She is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University, where she also directs the creative writing program.
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