Campus Community Celebrates with Pulitzer Prize-Winner Rae Armantrout

Kristin Luciani | May 3, 2010

Rae Armantrout signs copies of her books and talks with guests at the reception.

"It's ok to laugh!" said Rae Armantrout as she paused from her reading, putting the audience at ease and welcoming them to her poetry.  As she continued to read selections from her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, “Versed,” the audience relaxed, laughing and smiling as they listened to her carefully crafted words.

The poetry reading was part of an April 26 celebration that honored the UC San Diego faculty member who was awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for her latest book, “Versed.”  Armantrout’s 10th collection, “Versed ”is also a winner of the 2009 National Book Critics Circle award and was nominated for the National Book Award.  This latest collection journeys from the dark forces holding the United States in its war against Iraq to the darkness that gripped the author’s own life when she was diagnosed with cancer.
 
Faculty, staff, students and friends gathered in the Seuss Room in Geisel Library to celebrate Armantrout’s extraordinary accomplishments.
 
"The community of people who have reached out to congratulate Rae — the doctors, friends, people from the distant past — has  been a real pleasure," said Chuck Korkegian, Armantrout’s husband.    
 
Seated at the front of the room were a group of Armantrout’s former students who called themselves “Rae’s fan club.” Since she received the award, they have playfully begun referring to her as a rock star.

Brain Schottlaender (left) and Seth Lerer (right) stand with Armantrout before her reading.

"It’s interesting to hear Armantrout read,” said Jesús Castillo, one of the students in the group. “She reads like her poetry reads. It’s very nuanced.”  

As Geisel University Librarian Brian Schottlaender welcomed guests into the Seuss Room,  he expressed the university’s pride in housing the bulk of Armantrout’s original papers and manuscripts. 

“We have 10 linear feet of Rae’s work!” said Scholttlaender. 

Featured in the collection is Armantrout’s very first poem, a verse about a little fish, written when she was in kindergarten.  This poem and other select pieces of Armantrout’s original papers were featured in a special display during the reception. 
 
Seth Lerer, dean of Arts and Humanities at UC San Diego, gave a warm-hearted tribute to Armantrout. In his remarks, Lerer placed Armantrout’s work in the context of the American tradition of poetry, drawing comparisons between her writing and that of such prominent literary figures as Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams and Robert Creely.
 
“This is a poetry of brilliant imagery that challenges our everyday uses of language,” said Lerer. “It makes the ordinary extraordinary.”

 Armantrout read from “Versed” with warmth and quiet pride, a smile fixed upon her face as she enjoyed this opportunity to share her words and receive recognition for her accomplishments from the UC San Diego community. She provided introductory comments to many of the poems she read, sharing pieces of her personal history and often humorous stories, further drawing the audience into her personal connection to her poetry. 
 

Armantrout reads selections from her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, “Versed.”

As she shifted to the darker pieces in her collection, Armantrout maintained a light-hearted tone. "There is a darker cast to some of these poems,” said Armantrout.  “But it doesn't mean you can't laugh sometimes."
 
A book signing and intimate reception followed the reading, giving guests an opportunity to talk with Armantrout and pick up their own copy of “Versed.” 
 
“A member of the UCSD community for over two decades, Rae has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in American poetry,” said Lerer.  “Rae’s work, in the end, can offer the power of poetry in our society — why verse matters.”