Nathaniel Mackey in Columbia City
March 11 & 12, 2010
Nathaniel Mackey
Nathaniel Mackey is an American poet, novelist, anthologist, literary critic, editor and Professor of Literature at Duke University in North Carolina. A Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets, he was born in 1947 in Miami, Mackey obtained his B.A. from Princeton and his PhD from Stanford. His poetry books include Four for Trane (1978); Septet for the End of Time (1983); Eroding Witness (1985), which was selected for the National Poetry Series; Outlandish (1992); School of Udhra (1993); Song of the Andoumboulou: 18-20 (1994); Whatsaid Serif (1998) and Splay Anthem (2006).
Mackey’s poetry combines African mythology, African-American musical traditions, and Postmodernist poetic experiment. His several ongoing serial projects explore the relationship of poetry and historical memory, as well as the ritual power of poetry and song.
SPLAB is seeking co-sponsors who will be recognized on bookmarks, posters and in other promotional materials. There will be a public talk, a workshop and a reading. Attendance goals are 30 for the talk, 15 for the workshop and 50-100 for the reading. One thousand bookmarks will be distributed starting in August 2010 and the poster campaign has yet to be determined.
Current co-sponsors include: 4Culture, Poets & Writers, Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, CD Forum and WESTAF. We expect that the reading and workshop will be held at SPLAB, part of the Columbia Cultural Corner in the new Columbia School on Ferdinand.
Co-sponsorship starts at $300, which will be recognized on the website, on the poster and bookmarks, in the weekly SPLAB e-newsletter, in the event program and at the events themselves.
Contribution Levels:
$300—Your business name listed in the program, on our web site, on posters and other printed marketing materials. You will receive 2 complimentary tickets to the public reading
$500—Your business logo listed prominently in the program, on our web site, on posters and other printed marketing materials. You will receive 4 complimentary tickets to the public reading
$750—Your business logo/advertisement will receive a prominent full-page in our program. Your logo will be featured on our web site, on posters and other printed marketing materials. You will receive 6 complimentary tickets to the public reading
More About SPLAB:
A non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation since 1993, SPLAB is an intergenerational writing Performance, Resource and Outreach center dedicated to Poetry, Story-telling, Conversation, Debate, Consciousness and Building community through shared experience of the spoken and written word.
We work to make people better writers through deepening their perception. Better writers are better, more conscious people. The antidote to violence and other forms of acting out is empathy which is a function of imagination. Writing builds the imagination. We do not believe in Art for Art’s sake. We DO believe in the science of consciousness, as do the writers we favor and bring to Seattle.
Let’s get political. Bring your favorite political poem, your own or someone else’s. Don’t be shy – read the one you believe in. Ars Poetica? Beliefs or commandments? Rules or unruly rules to live by? We will iron out our doggerel and dogma. Maryna Ajaja will read from Mahmoud Darwish and Aharon Shabtai.
