Cornell’s creative writing program is once again inviting prominent writers to campus for live readings, as the Barbara and David Zalaznick Reading Series returns after over a year of hiatus.
This week’s installment — the second of the year — will feature a reading by poet Ed Skoog. Throughout his career, Skoog has authored four books of poems and has been published in The New Yorker, Harper’s and The New Republic. He has also been the recipient of several awards including the Marble Faun Prize in Poetry in 2005 and the Lyric Poetry Award from the Poetry Society of America in 2007. His work has been recognized for word play and juxtaposition of image and phrase.
Skoog’s latest book, Travelers Leaving for the City, was published by Copper Canyon press in May 2020. It centers around the murder of Skoog’s grandfather in 1955 in a Pittsburgh hotel. His other works include Toolkit (1995), Field Recording (2003), Mister Skylight (2009) and Rough Day (2013).
Skoog has taught at the Idyllwild Arts Foundation in California, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and Tulane University. He has previously held positions at George Washington University and Richard Hugo House, a non-profit community writing center in Seattle. He is currently a visiting writer at the University of Montana and resides in Portland, Oregon.
Past visiting writers have included former US poets laureate Billy Collins and Charles Simic, novelists Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood and Toni Morrison, MA ’55.
This semester’s series was kicked off on Sept. 23 by Poet & National Book Critics Circle Award winner Ada Limón. Novelist Angie Cruz will close the series on Oct. 28.
Readings take place in-person on Thursdays at 5 p.m. in Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium. All Cornell students and employees may attend for free. Each reading concludes with a Q&A. MFA and Ph.D. students are invited to a separate informal event with the visiting writer. The event is then followed by a book signing at Ithaca’s Buffalo Street Books, where attendees can purchase books on-site. Registration is available at events.cornell.edu.