Report from New Directions 75th Anniversary Celebration @ Poets House

Last night we celebrated 75 years of publishing (with a special focus on our poets) with a reading, exhibit of items from our archive, and of course a grand reception, at Poets House.  It was packed with ND enthusiasts, fans, and friends.  In fact, so many people came, many could not get in the main room where the reading was being held.  Fortunately, Poets House was prepared for such a occurrence by hooking up a live-feed video to a large TV monitor upstairs where many people sat and watched.  The readers were each at the top of their game and mesmerized the crowd. In my five years at New Directions, this may be the best ND poetry reading I’ve ever attended. 

The readings themselves were out of this world.  Stephen Motika, the events coordinator at PH, introduced the event, as well as the first reader, Susan Bernofsky.

Ms. Bernofsky kicked the evening off in spirits with two excellent excerpts from her translation of Robert Walser’s Microscripts, “New Year’s Page,” and “He numbered, as well might have been true of many others, among the good.”  

Richard Sieburth gave the crowd quite an intimate reading of two poems, including “Canto XLIX” from the New Selected Poems and Translations of Ezra Pound that Mr. Sieburth edited (“Canto XLIX is also included in New Directions new anthology of nature poems: Birds, Beasts, and Seas:

Bomb Magazine’s Senior Editor, Mónica De La Torre, delivered a superb, if not vivacious reading of various pieces from Roberto Bolaño’s forthcoming poetry collection Tres (trans. by Laura Healy)

Forrest Gander knocked us out with his reading from Inger Christensen’s it as well some of his own work from his new collection of poems, Core Samples from the World, which was recently given a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly.

Eliot Weinberger displayed his oratory prowess with a reading of “I Am Waiting” from Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island of the Mind (that not too long ago celebrated its own anniversary)

Nathaniel Mackey gave a fantastic reading of the opening of the chapter “Watchman, What of the Night?” from Djuna Barnes’s Nightwood as well as pieces from his National Book Award-winning Splay Anthem, and his forthcoming book of poetry, Nod House.

2011 Bolligen Prize Winner Susan Howe was the final reader for the evening.  She read pieces of “The Library” from William Carlos Williams’s Paterson as well as from her newest collection, That This.  It must be mentioned that if you are familiar with Ms. Howe’s work, then you know the cut-up strips of words and phrases she gathers as stand-alone sections.  One of these sections is included in That This and Ms. Howe actually read them out-loud, dazzling the crowd.  It was a perfect cap to an evening of phenomenal readings.

The reception afterwards was incredible.  There were so many people that it seemed PH might burst. Yet everyone was in a festive mood.  The superb catering, courtesy of a Poets House board member, complemented the evening’s centerpiece, the awe-inspiring New Directions exhibit.  Had I not been busy schmoozing it up, and having a great time, I would have been more on point with taking pictures of it.  But believe me, never have I seen our archive of first edition books, photographs, correspondence, and unique collectibles so well displayed. Please, make time to visit. Congrats to Stephen Motika, ND Poetry Editor Jeffrey Yang, and intern Tynan Kogane for putting that together.

I also highly encourage everyone to check out The VIllager’s own write-up of our celebration.

The exhibit will be on view through October 8.  Don’t miss it!

See you at the centennial!  —Michael