Author Linda Gregg to share her poetry at College of Saint Benedict

Poet Linda Gregg will read from her latest book, All of it Singing: New and Selected Poems, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19 at Room 204, Gorecki Dining and Conference Center, College of Saint Benedict.

All of it Singing (2008, Graywolf Press, $24) collects, for the first time, Gregg’s ongoing work from six volumes in one book. It also includes more than 20 new poems from Gregg.

The book has received the Sister Mariella Gable Award, which is given each year by the College of Saint Benedict for an important work of literature published by Graywolf Press, based in St. Paul. The award is named for the English professor who taught at CSB from 1928-73 and played an important role in the early careers of such writers as Flannery O’Connor, Betty Wahl and J.F. Powers.

Gregg was born in New York but raised in Marin County (Calif.). She received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from San Francisco State College.

Her first book of poems was Too Bright to See, which was published in 1981. That was followed by Alma (1985), The Sacraments of Desire (1991), Chosen by the Lion (1994), Things and Flesh (1999, which was a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Award for poetry) and In the Middle Distance (2006).

Gregg’s honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship (1983); a Whiting Writer’s Award (1985); a National Endowment for the Arts grant (1993); a Lannan Literary Foundation Fellowship (2003); and Pushcart Prizes (1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1991-92). She was the 2003 winner of the Sara Teasdale Award, and the 2006 PEN/Voelcker Award in Poetry for achievement across her career.

Gregg is currently a lecturer in creative writing at the University Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.

Her talk is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by the Literary Arts Institute (LAI) at the College of Saint Benedict.

The LAI was founded in 1997 to foster creative writing, publishing and interaction between students and writers. The LAI brings nationally recognized authors to the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University campuses, promotes literary events, holds conferences, supports publications, and encourages the artistry of fine letterpress. With its local and national partners, such as Graywolf Press, the LAI is able to bring writers and their work together with readers on campus, in Minnesota and beyond.