Charles Bernstein Poetry Reading, Honorary Degree Presentation

Groundbreaking poet, editor, critic, and activist Charles Bernstein receives an honorary degree, Ohio Wesleyan’s highest honor, and reads from his poetry collections, in the Bayley Room on the second floor of Beeghly Library, 43 Rowland Ave., Delaware. A book signing is expected to follow. A retired English professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Bernstein has written more than 20 poetry books and earned recognition including Yale University’s 2019 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry, the Roy Harvey Pearce/Archive for New Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2006, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. The Poetry Foundation describes his work as exploring “the wide-ranging uses of language within diverse social contexts. His poetry combines the language of politics, popular culture, advertising, literary jargon, corporate-speak, and myriad others to show how language and culture are mutually constructive and interdependent.” Admission is free. Learn more at www.owu.edu/english.