Poet Sam Sax is the second writer to come to Butler for the Visiting Writers Series 2019 season. Photo courtesy of Hallis Rafkin, Poetry Foundation.
TYLER BROCK | STAFF REPORTER | tbrock@butler.edu
Award-winning poet Sam Sax will be visiting Butler University on Oct. 3 as a part of the Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series. Sax will visit the Shelton Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Following a reading of his work, Sax will participate in a question and answer session and book signing.
Sophmore Andie Klarin will be introducing Sax before his reading.
“I think that his work will really resonate with Butler students,” Klarin said. “It is surprising, complex and approachable in a way that enchants both fans of poetry and those who are unfamiliar with the art form.”
Sax has authored six poetry collections including “madness” and “bury it,” both winning national awards: the National Poetry Series and the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American poets, respectively.
Sax is currently the poetry editor at BOAAT Press and a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.
Natalie Shaffer, a first-year English major, is very excited to hear him read his work.
“I think Sax really transcends the boundaries of poetry, specifically by the explicitness of his sexuality within his poems,” Shafer said. “His styling is very different from other poets I’ve read.”
Sax uses unconventional writing tactics like broken lines and prose paragraphs, curating a powerful stage performance that creates a unique and influential poetry experience.
Chris Forhan, associate professor of English, teaches the poetry side of the Visiting Writers Class. He said Sax is a dynamic poet.
“I think that Butler students will respond to his poetry’s candor and directness, which are mixed with keen attention to precise and evocative language,” Forhan said.
Sax has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Lambda Literary, the MacDowell Colony and the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation.
Sax is the second of 10 writers that will visit campus this year. All VWS events are open and free to Butler students as well as the Indianapolis community. Attending this VWS event will count as a BCR.
