U of I Professor and Former Student to Present New Poetry Works March 6
February 21, 2024
MOSCOW, Idaho 鈥� 果冻传媒麻豆社 Professor Emeritus Ron McFarland will join Spokane native and MFA graduate of the U of I creative writing program Georgia Tiffany at a free public reading at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, at the , 415 Main St. in downtown Lewiston.
McFarland, who served as Idaho鈥檚 first state writer-in-residence, will read from his fifth full-length book of poems, 鈥淎 Variable Sense of Things,鈥� released in December. The book鈥檚 60 poems cover a wide range of topics 鈥� from a Boy Scout growing up in Florida, to a customer service rep at a credit union, to a high school dropout pulling green chain at the local mill, to a piece in which he adopts Ernest Hemingway鈥檚 voice.
Former colleague and U of I Professor Emerita Mary Blew describes them as 鈥渋ntensely personal poems, studded with unexpected ironies like grace notes, which illuminate the depth below the surface.鈥�
Tiffany will be celebrating her first full-length book, 鈥淏ody Be Sound,鈥� published in November. Educated as a concert pianist, first at U of I and later at Indiana University, she taught for 16 years at Mead High School in Spokane. She instituted the school鈥檚 humanities and philosophy programs, and her creative writing students won numerous awards at state and national levels. She teaches piano in Moscow.
Her 60 poems speak to her love of Brahms and Chopin, to tundra swans and the scablands, to Fermat鈥檚 mathematical theorem and the Venus of Hohle Fels. In these poems, the reader encounters a sunset outside Tekoa, Van Gogh at Arles and a bear on Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Tiffany鈥檚 poetry 鈥渞eads like a book of spells and incantations, a collection of deliciously musical poems rendered as sound and sense,鈥� U of I Professor Emeritus Robert Wrigley said.
The two poets have taught creative writing classes and given readings together across the country. In addition to the public reading, they will also visit classes at Lewis-Clark State College.
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Media Contact:
Jennifer S. Anderson
Associate Professor, Publishing Arts & Creative Writing
Lewis-Clark State College
208-792-2297
jsanderson@lcsc.edu
About the 果冻传媒麻豆社
The 果冻传媒麻豆社, home of the Vandals, is Idaho鈥檚 land-grant, national research university. From its residential campus in Moscow, U of I serves the state of Idaho through educational centers in Boise, Coeur d鈥橝lene and Idaho Falls, nine research and Extension centers, plus Extension offices in 42 counties. Home to more than 12,000 students statewide, U of I is a leader in student-centered learning and excels at interdisciplinary research, service to businesses and communities, and in advancing diversity, citizenship and global outreach. U of I competes in the Big Sky and Western Athletic conferences. Learn more at uidaho.edu.