Silliman considers the business of the MFA Aug 13, 2009
As to Greatness, keep in mind that everyone comes to poetry for a different reason--as one poet once wisely told me, some people want nothing more than to hear/see their own world reflected back at them in beautiful language--and so once a writer crosses the line of competence in craft (in making evaluations of other writers, I mean) you are, unfortunately, going to have people who call Sharon Olds Great, and Mary Oliver Great, and Billy Collins Great. But the odd thing, I think, is that it is... (Harper's Magazine)
Thai court rejects US request to extradite Russian Aug 11, 2009
"Assault" is the sorry tale of a 1983 undercard bout at Madison Square Garden between up-and-comer Billy Collins Jr. and Luis Resto, battling not to fall into the abyss known in boxing as "opponent.". Resto battered Collins to a pulp in their 10-round junior middleweight bout with the help of "loaded" hand wraps and gloves whose shock-absorbing padding had been removed. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
"The Symbol" Jul 8, 2009
By Billy CollinsUpdated Tuesday, July 7, 2009, at 6:57 AM ET. Click the arrow on the audio player to hear Billy Collins read this poem. (Slate)
APA Honors the Year's Best Audiobooks at 14th Annual Audies Gala in New York City Jun 1, 2009
The Graveyard Book Author and Narrator: Neil Gaiman Publisher: HarperChildren's Audio Executive Producer/Producer/Director: Michael Conroy Distinguished Achievement in Production Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady By: L.A. Meyer Read by: Katherine Kellgren Publisher: Listen & Live Audio Executive Producers: Alisa Weberman and Alfred Martino Director: Alisa Weberman Audiobook Adaptation English Majors: A Comedy Collection for... (PR Newswire)
This Week: Arts and entertainment picks May 4, 2009
Michael McClure and George Brooks, Michael Zilber's Billy Collins Project ... Today and Monday, saxophonist-educator Michael Zilber - whose playing spans all genres - performs music alongside poems by former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, recited by Andy Kirshner ... Also today, another saxman with boundless taste and imagination, George Brooks, teams with a bona fide Beat poet, Michael McClure, to perform "Double Moir for Francis Crick," dedicated to the scientist who delineated the... (San Francisco Chronicle)
A librarian shares her poetry picks for young and old Apr 13, 2009
by Mark Eleveld (editor), Marc Kelly Smith (narrator) and Billy Collins (author). Sourcebooks, 2003. (Fresno Bee -- Lifestyle)
Go&Do: Beer versus Wine at the Portsmouth Brewery Mar 25, 2009
The books contain 53 poems by past Jazzmouth poetry-performers including former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins, jazz great Sheila Jordan and a host of New England and Seacoast poets. There are four collections, one for each year of the festival so far. (Seacoast New Hampshire)
Recitation contest wows poetry fans Mar 19, 2009
One by one they stepped onstage, leaned into the microphone and recited from memory poems from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" to Billy Collins' "Litany." We understood the gibberish of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," saw the decay of an old silver-mining town in Richard Hugo's "Degrees of Gray in Phillipsburg" and laughed when the winner, Woolsey, recited Gregory Djanikian's "Mrs. Caldera's House of Things.". It made me want to read more poetry. (Anchorage Daily News)
The power of a poem Mar 14, 2009
This year's list includes classics like Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty" and Shakespeare's "Sonnet XVIII: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day?" as well as contemporary works such as "Ways of Talking" by Ha Jin and "Litany" by Billy Collins. "The first time we did it, they all went for the shortest poem. But as time went on, I knew which ones to avoid. I can direct them away from some of the those poems, ... and encourage the kids to find a poem that is of interest to them that they can... (Juneau Empire)
Billy Collins Jr. vs Luis Resto: Re... Mar 10, 2009
Billy Collins Jr. vs Luis Resto: Revisited: Antonio Margarito Scandal Brings Back Painful Memories ... Billy Collins Jr. vs Luis Resto: Revisited ... Billy Collins Jr. vs Luis Resto: Revisited. (Suite101.com)
Murray named BHS Poet Laureate Mar 7, 2009
In addition, he showed range by performing both a modern piece by Billy Collins and a traditional sonnet by William Shakespeare. Poetry Out Loud has become increasingly popular with students over the past three years. (Burlington Union, MA)
Questions for Anita Diamant Feb 23, 2009
Billy Collins, who is one of my favorite poets, wrote a piece not long ago about how he was inspired by Looney Tunes and how that inspiration comes not only from your own media. I m enormously inspired by modern dance and nonverbal art forms that just fill me with admiration and awe. (Washington University Student Life, MO)
Poetry Forum utters its final verse Feb 13, 2009
"Some of these writers will be in poetry anthologies for a hundred years. Among the poets were Russia's Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney, U.S. poets laureate Billy Collins, Robert Pinsky, Richard Wilbur and Stanley Kunitz and other key figures such as Robert Lowell, Anne Sexton and the late John Updike, who brought his parents to his reading in 1969. "It's amazing to expose that many people to contemporary poets," he added. "Not everyone agreed with him, of course, but... (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Save yourself: You don’t have to break the bank to show some love Feb 8, 2009
Billy Collins has some funny love poems, as does Tony Hoagland. W. B. Yeats poems to Maude Gonne are classics. (Winona Daily News, MN)
