Springfield, Ohio – Wittenberg University will welcome poet Eavan Boland for the fifth event of the 2016-17 Wittenberg Series. Boland will deliver the Allen J. Koppenhaver Literary Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, in Bayley Auditorium of the Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1944, Boland is one of the foremost female voices in Irish literature. The daughter of a diplomat and a painter, she spent her girlhood in London and New York, returning to Ireland to attend secondary school in Killiney and Trinity College in Dublin. Though still a student when she published her first collection, 23 Poems (1962), Boland incorporated her experiences as a young wife and mother, and her growing awareness of the troubled role of women in Irish history and culture into her early works.
Throughout her many collections of poetry, in her prose memoir Object Lessons (1995), and in her work as a noted anthologist and teacher, Boland has honed an appreciation for the ordinary in life. Her poetry is known for subverting traditional constructions of womanhood, as well as offering fresh perspectives on Irish history and mythology.
Boland’s fifth book, In Her Own Image (1980), brought her international recognition and acclaim. Exploring topics such as domestic violence, anorexia, infanticide and cancer, the book also announced Boland’s on-going concern with inaccurate and muffled portrayals of women in Irish literature and society. Her next books, including Night Feed (1982) and her first volume of selected poems Outside History (1990), continued to explore questions of female identity.
In a Time of Violence (1994), winner of a Lannan Literary Award and shortlisted for the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize, includes poems that gesture toward private and political realities at once. In poems such as “That the Science of Cartography is Limited†and “Anna Liffey,†Boland constructs a world that is influenced by history, the present-day and mythology, and yet remains intensely personal. It is a recipe that Boland has perfected in her work since.
Prior to the evening’s lecture, Wittenberg will host an English colloquium featuring Boland at 4:30 p.m., also in Bayley Auditorium.
Now in its 34th year, the Wittenberg Series brings distinguished lecturers and performing artists of national and international prominence to the Wittenberg campus and Springfield community. To make special arrangements, request a Series poster, or become a friend of the Wittenberg Series, contact Lisa Watson at WatsonL4@wittenberg.edu. All Wittenberg Series events are free and open to the public.
Additional 2016-17 Wittenberg Series Events:
- Monday, Nov. 14: Concert with Sybarite5, 7:30 p.m., Weaver Chapel.
- Friday, Dec. 9: Lessons and Carols, 7:30 p.m. (Pre-service at 7 p.m.), Weaver Chapel.
- Monday, Jan. 16, 2017: Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation, 11:15 a.m., Weaver Chapel featuring Dorothy Tillman, Civil Rights Activist and former Chicago Alderman.
- Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017: Concert with Goldstein, Peled, Fiterstein Trio, 7:30 p.m., Weaver Chapel.
- Wednesday, March 15, 2017: - IBM Endowed Lecture in the Sciences, 7:30 p.m., Bayley Auditorium featuring Valentina Salapura, IBM.
- Friday, March 31, 2017: William A. Kinnison Endowed Lecture, 7:30 p.m., Bayley Auditorium featuring Michael Blakey.
-By Cindy Holbrook, Office of University Communications
About Wittenberg
A nationally ranked university for the liberal arts and sciences affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Wittenberg University has repeatedly been ranked throughout the years by the Princeton Review for the quality of its teaching and faculty, including 11th in the nation for “Best Classroom Experience†and 15th in the category “Professors Get High Marks†in the 2011 edition of Princeton’s annual Best Colleges guide. Most recently, Wittenberg earned the No. 4 spot in the category of “Most Accessible Professors,†and the university earned a spot on the “Best Buy†list in the 2017 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Wittenberg appeared in the Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges in 2013 and again in 2015. Additionally, Wittenberg currently has more Ohio Professors of the Year than any other four-year institution in the state, and has been recognized nationally for excellence in service and athletics.
