Champaign-Urbana is a cultural oasis. An erudite little island of diversity that allows students and townies alike a chance to experience things they might not otherwise. Things like poetry. Go ahead and try to find a community within 100 miles of here that plays host to so many significant literary figures throughout a given year. Wait, don’t bother. It’s not going to happen. And yet, despite living in a land of opportunity, you’ve been squandering your free time by sitting on your couch and watching re-runs of the Simpson’s, or by plowing through pint after sweet pint of PBR at some dingy old bar. So snap out of it folks and come on down to one of the three readings that will be taking place over the next two weeks. And I promise, you’ll have time to hit up the bar afterwards.
Joy Harjo
Tuesday, 9/22 | Krannert Art Museum | 4:30 p.m. | Free
The American Indian Studies Program‘s artist in residence Joy Harjo will be giving a craft talk and poetry reading at the Krannert Art Museum. Those who know Harjo’s work don’t need to told how big of a deal this is. For those of who don’t know her work, take notice: this is a big friggin’ deal.
From the AIS Program’s website:
Joy Harjo is a multi-talented artist of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation. She is an internationally distinguished poet, performer, writer and musician. She has published seven books of acclaimed poetry – including She Had Some Horses (1984), In Mad Love and War (1990), The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (1994), A Map to the Next World; Poems (2000), and How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems (2003) – and two children’s books, The Good Luck Cat (2000) and For a Girl Becoming (2009). Her poetry awards include the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Award, the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She has released three widely acclaimed CD’s of original music and performances: Letter from the End of the Twentieth Century, Native Joy for Real, and She Had Some Horses.
There’ll be a book signing afterwards.
The VOICE Reading Series
Thursday, 9/24 | Krannert Art Museum | 7:30 p.m. | Free
The VOICE Reading Series brings us three for the price of one! Beginning at 7:30 p.m., Brian Kornell, Sara McWhorter and Micah Riecker will each read from their work. All three are working towards their MFAs in either fiction (the fellas) or poetry (Sara).
Personally, I think these VOICE readings are a real blast. Maybe you don’t get the big name, but you always get to be part of a really good 
(Micah Reicker) reading. And sometimes the performances are electric, like Sean Karns’ reading of “Sunday Morning” last spring or Riecker’s reading of “The Amazing Steven” about a year and a half ago. I remember his reading being wry and playful but also very somber, which could account for why I still find myself thinking about that story from time to time. Take my word for it, if you’ve never been to a reading before, this is a great one to start with (but don’t let that stop you from checking out Joy Harjo!).
(Brian Kornell)
Lucie Brock-Broido
Next Tuesday, 9/29 | Illini Union Bookstore | 4:30 p.m. | Free
Another huge name in comes to town next Tuesday. Lucie Brock-Broido, the author of three widely acclaimed volumes of poetry, comes to the Author’s Corner at the Illini Union Bookstore for a reading and a book signing. The second reader in the Creative Writing program’s Carr Reading Series, Brock-Broido is by far the most esoteric. To paraphrase Steve Davenport, she’s one of the few poets in the world today who can actually do more with more. For many of us, her reading is the literary event of the year. A real once in a lifetime experience.
From the Carr website: Lucie Brock-Broido is the author of three books of poetry: Trouble in Mind (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), The Master Letters (1995), and A Hunger (1988). Her awards and honors include the Witter-Bynner prize of Poetry from the Academy of American Arts and Letters, the Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prize from American Poetry Review, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and a Guggenheim fellowship. She is a professor of poetry at Columbia University.
So get it together folks. You live in Champaign-freaking-Urbana. Start acting like it.