memory

Carl Dennis reads primarily from The Outskirts of Troy, which would be published two years after this reading.

In this, Tess Gallagher's first reading for the Poetry Center, she performs poetry from three of her books and reads the work of Thomas Lux, Andre Breton, and Ciaran Carson.

Seamus Heaney reads from Death of a Naturalist (1966), Door into the Dark (1969), Wintering Out (1972), North (1975), Field Work (1979), and Sweeney Astray (1983). The reading also features Heaney's lively banter.

Li-Young Lee reads primarily from his second collection, The City in Which I Love You, which was published the same year as this reading. He also reads one poem from his first collection, Rose (1986).

David Ignatow reads widely from his work of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s; this reading also includes several uncollected poems.

Nancy Mairs reads from In All the Rooms of the Yellow House (1984). She gave this reading with Mark Strand.

Li-Young Lee reads widely from his body of work and discusses forms, craft, and chance in poetry.

Claudia Rankine reads from Don't Let Me Be Lonely (2004).

Patricia Smith reads widely from her work, including several uncollected poems.

Diane Wakoski reads widely from her body of work.

David Ignatow reads widely from his work. This reading includes poems collected in Facing the Tree (1975) and Tread the Dark (1978), as well as uncollected poems and early drafts of poems that would go on to appear in collections such as Whisper to the Earth (1981) and Leaving the Door Open (1984).

Steve Orlen reads from Permission to Speak (1978) and A Place at the Table (1981).

Billy Collins reads for the inaugural Tucson Festival of Books, including new poems that would be published two years later in Horoscopes for the Dead.

Boyer Rickel reads primarily from his collections Remanence (2008) and reliquary (2009).

In this performance, Robert Creeley reads from and discusses his chapbook Yesterdays, published shortly before the reading by Chax Press. He also reads poems that would be published in his posthumous collection On Earth. Creeley closes with the poem "Generous Life," from If I Were Writing This.

David Wojahn reads primarily from his then-manuscript Late Empire (1994), which would be published two years later. He also reads four sections of his sonnet sequence on rock and roll from Mystery Train (1990).

At this performance given with Abraham Smith during the Tucson Festival of Books, Kim Addonizio reads from her books Lucifer at the Starlite and What Is This Thing Called Love. Before a question-and-answer session with both poets, Kim Addonizio performs a short song on her harmonica.

In this reading, Rigoberto González performs poetry and nonfiction; the reading concludes with a question and answer section with Maria Melendez.

Philip Schultz reads poems from several books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning collection The God of Loneliness (2010). He closes the reading with his first public performance of several new poems.

Marie Howe reads poems from What the Living Do (1998) and The Kingdom of Ordinary Time (2008), as well as a poem published in the American Poetry Review. The majority of poems are accompanied by remarks from the poet.

Gerald Vizenor reads a selection of his work and discusses haiku and visionary art. Most poems from this reading can be found in his 2006 collection Almost Ashore.

Lucille Clifton reads widely from her extensive body of work. This performance includes poems from her final collection, Voices (2008), as well as several uncollected and unpublished poems.

Nancy Mairs reads from a draft version of a manuscript that would later be published as Remembering the Bone House: An Erotics of Place and Space (1989).

G.C. Waldrep reads from the collection Your Father on the Train of Ghosts (2011); he also reads some uncollected poems.

L.R. Benes, author of Rune Weave (2011), reads from his uncollected body of work, dating from 1972 to 2011.

In this reading, originally given with Beth Alvarado, Aurelie Sheehan shares excerpts from the novel History Lessons for Girls (2006), as well as a work in progress called One Hundred Histories.

Thomas Kinsella reads poems from Downstream (1962), Wormwood (1966), and Nightwalker and Other Poems (1968), as well as poems that would later appear in Collected Poems 1956-1994 (1996) and Selected Poems (2007).

Brian Turner reads from Here, Bullet (2005). This reading was originally given with Srikanth Reddy and Joshua Marie Wilkinson.

Aurelie Sheehan reads from Jewelry Box: A Collection of Histories (2013). This reading was originally given with Farid Matuk.

Denise Levertov reads from her collection Evening Train (1992), mixing in several poems from A Door in the Hive (1989). She also reads poems that would later appear in Sands of the Well (1996). Longing—for the past, for human connection, for an end to atrocities committed by the United States military—plays a prominent role in the poems Levertov reads.

Jen Hofer reads widely from her early work. This reading was originally given with Summi Kaipa.

Karen Brennan reads from little dark (2014). This reading was originally given with Brian Blanchfield and Stephen Willey.

Taha Muhammad Ali reads primarily from his book So What (2006) in the original Arabic, with Peter Cole reading each poem's translation in English.

Italian writer Paolo Valesio reads poems in English translation. He opens the reading with "In Memoriam" from La Rosa Verde (1987) in the original Italian.

In her first reading as a member of the University of Arizona faculty, Tess Gallagher reads from her first three collections, Stepping Outside (1974), Instructions to the Double (1976), and Under Stars (1978). She also treats the audience by singing a traditional Irish folk song that has been an inspiration to her writing.

Boyer Rickel reads poetry from his first book, Arreboles (1991), touching on family and childhood memories, experiences living in Tucson, and musicians and writers of previous centuries. He also reads an essay that would go on to be published in Taboo (1999), which he introduces by discussing his approach to writing essays that follow the form of poems, not returning to a main idea but moving through it.

Tomaž  Šalamun reads from poems written throughout his career, some of them translated into English by poets such as Bob Perelman and Charles Simic, others read in his native Slovenian.

William Stafford reads poems from throughout his career, on themes such as aging, memory, nature, war, and human violence. He also reads what he claims is his "weakest" poem, "The Little Girl by the Fence at School."

Steve Orlen reads from his collections Permission to Speak (1978) and A Place at the Table (1982), as well as from newer material.

Steve Orlen reads from his books Permission to Speak (1978), Separate Creatures (1976), and Sleeping on Doors (1975).

Paul Zimmer reads poems inspired by his troubled youth during the Eisenhower years, as well as several persona poems.

Rosemary Catacalos reads poems on themes such as identity, quirks of memory, borders and border towns, the effects of speaking three languages (Greek, Spanish, and English) as a child, and the Day of the Dead.

Vivian Gornick reads from Fierce Attachments (1987), a memoir of the author's past and present relationship with her mother. This University of Arizona Creative Writing faculty reading was originally given with Mary Elsie Robertson.

Poet and essayist Brian Blanchfield reads from his first work of non-fiction, Proxies (2016). This reading was originally given with Fenton Johnson. 

Renee Angle reads from her book-length poetry project WoO (2016). This reading was originally given with Wendy Burk.

Richard Shelton reads from his memoir Nobody Rich or Famous (2016). He also reads a related poem from Selected Poems, 1969-1981 (1982).

Felicia Zamora reads poetry from her collections Of Form & Gather (2017) and Instrument of Gaps (2018). She also reads two poems that would go on to be collected in Body of Render (2020). This reading was originally given with July Westhale.

Carl Phillips reads poems from Wild Is the Wind (2018) along with other poems that would later appear in the chapbook Star Map with Action Figures (2019) and the collection Pale Colors in a Tall Field (2020). 

Michael Wasson reads poems primarily from his first full-length collection, Swallowed Light (2022), which inhabits both the fragmented self and the tensions of language and history experienced by Wasson's Nimíipuu community. Part of the Distinguished Visitors in Creative Writing Series, this reading was originally given with Jennifer Elise Foerster.

Summer resident Angel Dominguez reads poems rooted in ancestors and community as they protest colonialism, fascism, and gentrification. Dominguez first reads from across their published works: Black Lavender Milk (2015), RoseSunWater (2021), and Desgraciado (the collected letters) (2022). They close the reading with recent poems, including one written the night before the reading and others from a manuscript in progress titled Don't Tell My Mother If They Kill Me.