Program pairs poetry, dramatic weather photography

  Tuesday, February 3, 2015 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, former poet laureate of Kansas, and photographer Stephen Locke will offer a multimedia presentation, “Chasing Weather,” as a special event in the Pittsburg State University Distinguished Visiting Writers Series at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5, in 102 Yates Hall. The presentation is free and open to the public.

This dramatic presentation, drawn from Mirriam-Goldberg’s and Locke’s newly published book, “Chasing Weather: Tornadoes, Tempests, and Thunderous Skies in Word & Image,” matches Locke’s images and videos of wild Great Plains weather with Mirriam-Goldberg’s stirring poems.

Mary Swander, poet laureate of Iowa, described “Chasing Weather” as “a gorgeous pairing of photos and poetry...Catching moments of stunning beauty and surprising shifts in the sky, this combination of poetry and photography helps make the vibrant and variable world more visible to us, and shows us how to truly see where and who we are.”

Mirriam-Goldberg is the author or editor of 19 books, including the recently published “Poem on the Range: A Poet Laureate’s Love Song to Kansas;” a novel, “The Divorce Girl;” a non-fiction book, “Needle in the Bone: How a Holocaust Survivor and Polish Resistance Fighter Beat the Odds and Found Each Other;” “The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community & Coming Home to the Body;” and four poetry collections. She is the founder of Transformative Language Arts, a master’s program in social and personal transformation through the written, spoken, and sung word, at Goddard College, where she teaches. Caryn also leads community writing workshops. She lives with her family just south of Lawrence, Kan.

Stephen Locke is a stills and motion photographer and professional storm chaser. He produces still photography for collectors and supercell cinematography for film production companies. Locke is well known for his time-lapse cinematography. Based in Kansas City, his Tempest Gallery is a showcase of storm imagery shot throughout the Great Plains. Clients include Andrews McMeel Publishing, Accord Publishing, Ice Cube Press, CBS, CNN, Mayo Clinic, The Weather Channel, Discovery, Duo Creative, and other film production companies worldwide.

This presentation is sponsored by the PSU Department of English and Modern Languages, and the Student Fee Council. For more Information, contact the PSU Department of English and Modern Languages, 620-235-4689.