Poet laureate to cap library celebration

Robert Pinsky, poet laureate of the United States 1997-2000, will speak on campus as the university library system marks the acquisition of its six-millionth book this spring.

Pinsky’s appearance in May is one of several major events planned under the theme “Celebrating Books.” Two members of Friends of the UW–Madison Libraries have made significant gifts of materials as well.

“The gifts recognize that since the early days of the university, donors have played a major role in building the first-class research collections of the UW–Madison,” says Ken Frazier, campus libraries director.

Jack Fry, Hilldale Professor of Physics emeritus at UW–Madison, is donating more than 26,000 documents he has collected during his lifelong interest in Italian history. The collection, which will be housed in the Department of Special Collections, includes material ranging from an Italian family archive of the late Middle Ages to political pamphlets of the post-World War II period. Some rare finds include a diary of the 16th-century Italian Renaissance poet Lodovico Ariosto, one of the most important Italian poets at a time when Italian literature was preeminent.

“The place for such documents is here,” says Fry, “in a library where they can be preserved and used.”

Fry’s will discuss, “A Collector’s Vision: Highlights from the Fry Collection,” at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 28, 976 Memorial Library, 728 State St.

David Hayman, Bascom-Evjue Professor of Comparative Literature emeritus at UW–Madison, has given an Arion Press edition of James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” illustrated by abstract expressionist master Robert Motherwell. Hayman, a nationally recognized Joyce scholar, served as a consultant on the project to the Arion Press, a historic typefoundry, printer and bookbinder. While working on the project, he established a relationship as friend and interviewer with Motherwell.

Hayman’s illustrated lecture, “Reading Motherwell’s Reading of Joyce,” will be at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, March 29, 976 Memorial Library, 728 State St.

Frazier will present the six-millionth book at the Friends annual meeting, Wednesday, April 18. As director during the past decade, Frazier has overseen the growth of the collections, the development of digital resources and the creation of national initiatives in library partnerships in scholarly communication.

Frazier is past president of the Association of Research Libraries based in Washington, D.C., a consortium of more than 100 of the largest research libraries in North America.

Frazier’s talk, “The Golden Age of the Research Library,” will be at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 18, Howard Auditorium, Fluno Center, 601 University Ave.

Pinsky caps off “Celebrating Books” Wednesday, May 2. Pinsky is poetry editor of the online journal Slate, contributes to PBS’s “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” and teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University. His most recent book of poetry is “Jersey Rain.” In 1999, Norton published the anthology “Americans’ Favorite Poems,” a collection featured in Pinsky’s Favorite Poems Project. Pinsky’s writing has won awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Pinksy’s lecture is cosponsored by the Friends of the UW–Madison Libraries and the Wisconsin Union Distinguished Lecture Series with funding provided by the Joyce Foundation and the Keller Family Foundation.

Pinksy’s talk, “Celebrating Books and Poetry with Robert Pinsky,” will be at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 2, Wisconsin Union Theater, 800 Langdon St.

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— Don Johnson, (608) 262-0076, djohnson@library.wisc.edu