Poet Peter Filkins will read at the Stonington Free Library at 5:00 PM on Sunday March 25. Filkins is the author of three previous books of poetry, What She Knew (1998), After Homer (2002), and Augustine’s Vision (2010). He has been awarded writing residencies at Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Millay Colony of the Arts, and has won many prizes, including the Stover Award in Poetry given by The Southwest Review and the New American Press Chapbook Award. On Sunday, Filkins will read from his forthcoming book of poems, The View We’re Granted, which will be published this fall, and from his earlier books. In addition, Filkins will read new poems written during his residency in Stonington.
Filkins is also known for his translations of the poems of Ingeborg Bachmann and the novels of H.G. Adler. Adler, a Jewish Czech intellectual who wrote in German, survived several Nazi concentration camps and wrote both novels and non-fiction about the Holocaust. The Journey and Panorama, two Adler novels that Filkins has translated, were largely ignored during Adler’s lifetime. Writing in The New Yorker, Ruth Franklin described Adler’s books as “modernist masterpieces worthy of comparison to those of Kafka or Musil.” Filkins’ translation of Panorama was listed as one of the best books of 2011 by The New Republic’s editorial staff. He is also the recipient of an Outstanding Translation Award from the American Literary Translators Association and the Berlin Prize of the American Academy in Berlin.
Filkins received a B.A. from Williams College and an M.F.A. from Columbia University. He also won a Fulbright Fellowship which he spent translating German literature at the University of Vienna. Since 1988, he has been a professor of English at Bard College at Simon’s Rock.
The reading at Stonington Free Library is free and open to the public. A reception will follow. For information call 401-524-3450. The library is handicapped accessible.
Mr. Filkins is available for interviews, and a high resolution author photo will be forwarded on request.
The James Merrill House is a non-profit organization operated by the Stonington Village Improvement Association whose purpose is to preserve the Stonington home of the Pulitzer Prize winning American poet, James Merrill, and make this exceptional space available as a residence for writers. In addition, the James Merrill House operates a number of outreach programs including writing workshops in the schools and community, reading groups, and public seminars and lectures. For more information about the James Merrill House Program visit http://www.jamesmerrillhouse.org .
