Sandeep Parmar, Zalaznick Distinguished Visiting Writer, to read Oct. 20

Poet and critic Sandeep Parmar will read from her books of poetry on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 5 p.m. in the Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium in Klarman Hall for the Richard Cleaveland Memorial Reading, created in 2002 by friends and family of Richard Cleaveland ’74 to honor his memory. The reading will be free and open to the public. Copies of Sandeep Parmar’s books will be available for purchase at the book signing following the reading.

Parmar is the 2022-2023 Zalaznick Distinguished Visiting Writer in the Department of Literatures in English in the College of Arts and Sciences. Parmar has spent the fall semester in residency exploring poetry writing with undergraduates and MFA in creative writing students enrolled in the two courses she is teaching this semester: ENGL 3840 Poetry Writing and ENGL 5800 Graduate Creative Writing Seminar: Escaping Lyric Poetry.

Parmar is the author of a number of books, including three of poetry, “The Marble Orchard,” “Eidolon” and “Faust.” The Guardian named Parmar’s “Faust” in their September 2022 best recent poetry-review roundup. One of only four collections selected, “Faust” is described as “an ambitious intellectual powerhouse, the book is also lit up by many tender moments.”

Her work has appeared in the Guardian, The Los Angeles Review of Books, the Financial Times, and the Times Literary Supplement. She is a BBC New Generation Thinker and Co-Director of Liverpool’s Centre for New and International Writing. In 2017, she co-founded the Ledbury Poetry Critics program for poetry critics of color. Parmar is a professor of English literature at Liverpool University, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of the Arts.

The reading will be followed by a conversation with Valzhyna Mort, associate professor of literatures in English in the College of Arts and Sciences. Mort is the author of three poetry collections, “Factory of Tears,” “Collected Body” and “Music for the Dead and Resurrected,” which was named one of the best poetry books of 2020 by The New York Times and which received the International Griffin Poetry Prize and the UNT Rilke Prize. Mort is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy in Rome, the Lannan Foundation, and the Amy Clampitt Foundation. Her work has been honored with the Bess Hokin Prize from Poetry and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize.

This event is part of the Fall 2022 Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series for the Creative Writing Program in the Department of Literatures in English. Barbara and David Zalaznick’s generous endowment makes it possible for the Creative Writing Program to invite several writers, who range from debut poets and novelists to nationally and internationally renowned writers, to campus each semester.
Currently on the Cornell campus, masks are encouraged but not required. For the latest university public health guidelines visit covid.cornell.edu.

For more information, visit english.cornell.edu/zalaznick, email englishevents@cornell.edu or call (607) 254-7157.

Amanda Brockner is MFA Graduate Program Coordinator in the Department of Literatures in English.