Award-winning Chinese American poet and sitarist to perform at ECU
Li-Young Lee (Contributed photo)
East Carolina University and the Contemporary Writers Series soon will welcome two guests to campus. Award-winning poet Li-Young Lee and David Whetstone, one of the most active sitarists in the United States, will lead a free, public event from 7-9 p.m. Oct. 30 in the Main Campus Student Center, Ballroom A.
Lee was born in Djakarta, Indonesia, in 1957 to Chinese political exiles, before arriving in the United States in 1964. While attending the University of Pittsburgh, Lee began writing poetry. He was influenced by classical Chinese poets Li Bo and Tu Fu.
ECU professor of English John Hoppenthaler, a poet influenced by Lee’s work, praises Lee’s “tactile and deceptively simple language.”
According to Alex Lemon, in a review by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Lee’s poetry is noted for its “use of silence” and its “near mysticism” that is “fully engaged in life and memory while building and shaping the self from words.”
Lee is the author of “Rose,” winner of the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award; “The City in Which I Love You,” winner of the Laughlin Award;“Book of My Nights;” “Behind My Eyes;” and “The Undressing.”
Whetstone, who will join Lee during the event, has collaborated and toured extensively with poets Robert Bly and Coleman Barks, appearing with them in recordings and films.
“I have an infinite trust in David Whetstone’s music,” said Bly. “I’ve never met anyone more sensitive to poetry and more able to go ahead of it into realms of delight and depth. He’s a master sitarist and one of the best artists of his generation.”
A book-signing will immediately follow the evening’s performance.
The event is sponsored by the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of English. Individuals requesting accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should call 252-737-1016 (voice/TTY) at least 48 hours prior to the event.
-by Lacey L. Gray, University Communications