An evening with Robert Dana

MOUNT VERNON – Cornell College will host “An Evening with Poet Robert Dana” on Tuesday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Kimmel Theatre. Admission is free and open to the public.

The evening will celebrate Dana’s contributions to the world of poetry as a Cornell professor and Poet-in-Residence, as Iowa Poet Laureate, and as a distinguished author.

Dana will read a selection of poems from his new book, The Other, as well as earlier works.

A reception and book signing will follow in the Berry Lobby.

In 1954, at the age of 25, Robert Dana arrived on campus as the youngest ever tenure-track faculty member. He taught English at Cornell for the next 40 years, inspiring generations of young Cornellians.

Dana received National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships for Poetry in 1985 and 1993 and the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award for Poetry in 1989. He is the author of 10 collections of poetry and two works of literary nonfiction, and the founding editor of the revived North American Review. His poems have appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Poetry, The Sewanee Review, The New York Times, The American Poetry Review, Poetry Now, The New England Review, Mother Jones, The Georgia Review, and others. Two of his poems were memorialized in 2008 on monuments in Des Moines and Coralville.

Dana served as distinguished visiting writer at five American universities and Stockholm University. He has remained prolific in retirement, serving two terms as Poet Laureate of Iowa and publishing four books of poetry, most recently The Other.

The man introducing Dana in the video is Tom Lynner ’66, co-founder of the Des Moines National Poetry Festival.