Rita Dove: Between the Playwright and the Play with book signing at the Wexner Center for the Arts
03/23/2018
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Categories
Catch Pulitzer Prize–winning author Rita Dove as she shares the story behind her theatrical masterpiece “The Darker Face of the Earth” at the Wexner Center for the Arts. From early versions that underwent deep revision, a premiere at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 1996, and major performances at the Kennedy Center and the National Theatre, you’ll hear Dove recount the play’s dynamic life and reflect on her experiences as a playwright.
The author joins guests for a book signing in the Wexner Center Store after the talk. On Saturday, March 24, you can see a staged reading of the play at Ohio State’s Drake Performance and Event Center.
Born in Akron, Ohio, and an alumna of Miami University, Dove is among the most important literary artists of her generation, having flourished as a poet, novelist, essayist, composer, and playwright. Her accomplishments as a poet led to service as Poet Laureate of both the United States (1993–95) and the Commonwealth of Virginia (2004–6). Dove has earned critical acclaim and multiple awards throughout her career, including the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, the 2001 Duke Ellington Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2009 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, and, most recently, the inaugural 2017 US Presidential Scholars Honors Award. She has over two dozen honorary doctorates and is the only poet to have won both a National Humanities Medal (1996) and a National Medal of Arts (2011). Her many collections of poetry include Thomas and Beulah (1986) and Sonata Mulattica (2009).
ADMISSION
Free for all audiences
(no tickets or RSVP required)