CONWAY, Ark. (Mar. 1, 09) –The 2009 Murphy Visiting Poet, Bei Dao of Hong Kong, will read from his work at Hendrix College in Conway on March 5. His appearance is part of an ongoing series of presenters brought to campus by this year’s Hendrix-Murphy Program Series, “West Meets East: The Global Influence of Asian Literature and Language.”
Dao’s reading will take place on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in Reves Recital Hall, Trieschmann Fine Arts Building, on the Hendrix College campus. A reception and book signing in Trieschmann Gallery will follow the reading. Both the reading and the reception are open to the public and free of admission.
Known for his status as a member of China’s “Misty School” of poetry, Dao helped found China’s first unofficial literary journal since 1949, Jintian (Today). Created in 1978 amidst the Cultural Revolution, the magazine was shut down by the government in 1980. Ten years later the magazine was reinstated in a modified form, with contributors from around the globe. Jintian became a forum for these Misty School poets, known for their free verse, obtuse language, hazy imagery, and refusal to write in accordance with state literature mandates.
Dao is the author of five volumes of poetry: The August Sleepwalker (1990), Old Snow (1992), Forms of Distance (1994), Landscape Over Zero (1996), and Unlock (2000). He also penned the short story collection Waves (1990) and two essay collections, Blue House (2000) and Midnight’s Gate (2005). His work has been translated into over 25 languages, and he has been a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times. Dao is also a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship.
A mouthpiece for Chinese democracy and social revolution, Dao was exiled along with several other Misty School Poets in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square Massacre. During his time abroad, Dao has lived and taught in England, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, France, and the United States. Dao was allowed to return to China in 2006 and now lives in Hong Kong and is currently Professor of Humanities in the Center for East Asian Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The Murphy Visiting Poet Series has included such nationally and internationally recognized poets as Allen Ginsberg, Carolyn Kizer, Seamus Heaney, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Pinsky, Rita Dove, Ishmael Reed, Denise Levertov, Ted Kooser, and Donald Hall.
This event is sponsored by the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language, which are designed to enhance and enrich the study and teaching of literature and language at Hendrix College. For more information about this and future events, please contact Henryetta Vanaman, 501-450-4597 or vanaman@hendrix.edu.
Hendrix, founded in 1876, is a selective, residential, undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is among 165 colleges featured in the 2009 edition of the Princeton Review America’s Best Value Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.
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