Poet James Kimbrell to Speak at Chimes Release Party on March 24
Poet James Kimbrell will speak at Shorter University on Thursday, March 24, to celebrate the oldest continuous publication of the university, which will begin its 150th academic year in August 2022.
Kimbrell’s visit is part of the celebration for The Chimes, Shorter’s literary magazine, which has won five consecutive national first place awards in the competition hosted by the American Scholastic Press Association. He will read from his poetry at the release party for the latest edition. The event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 24, in the Price Learning Center of Shorter’s Livingston Library. This event is open to the public at no charge.
Dr. Kimbrell was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1967. He earned an MFA from the University of Virginia and a PhD from the University of Missouri, Columbia, where he was awarded two Academy of American Poets Prizes. In 1993 he received a Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship, followed by the “Discovery”/ The Nation Award in 1997. His debut collection, The Gatehouse Heaven, was selected by Charles Wright as the winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize and published by Sarabande Books in 1998.
He is the author of Smote (Sarabande Books, 2015), My Psychic (Sarabande Books, 2006) and Three Poets of Modern Korea: Yi Sang, Hahm Dong-Seon and Choi Young-Mi, which he co-translated with Yu Jung-Yul (Sarabande Books, 2002). The author Robert Olen Butler noted that Smote “is a book of the dark reality of our daily existence; it is a book of abiding grace.”
Dr. Kimbrell is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Whiting Writers’ Award. He currently teaches in the creative writing program at Florida State University and lives in Tallahassee, Florida.
During his visit to Shorter, he will present an afternoon writer’s workshop for Shorter students. He served as judge for this year’s Chimes awards in the written, visual, and alumni categories.
Rapidly approaching its 150th anniversary, Shorter University is a Christ-centered university committed to excellence in education. U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review annually include Shorter on their lists of best Southeastern Colleges. The university offers traditional bachelor’s degrees in 40 areas of study, online courses and degree programs, associate’s and master’s programs. Learn more at www.shorter.edu.