OXFORD, Miss. – Award-winning poet Kim Addonizio visits the
University of Mississippi March 6 as part of the John and
Renee Grisham Visiting Writer Series.
Addonizio is scheduled to give a 7 p.m. reading in
Bondurant Hall auditorium. She will sign books immediately
following the event, which is free and open to the public.
“Kim Addonizio is well known for giving lively poetry
readings,” said Beth Ann Fennelly, associate professor of
English. “She has written some blues-inspired poetry that
she promises to read, and she’ll play her harmonica as
accompaniment. Addonizio’s personal charisma, combined with
her formally deft, accessible, often funny poetry, will
make this a reading to remember.”
The visiting writer is the author of numerous books of
poetry, including “The Philosopher’s Club,” “Jimmy & Rita”
and “Tell Me,” which was a finalist for the 2000 National
Book Award. Her latest collection, “What is This Thing
Called Love?,” was published in 2004. She has also
published “In the Box Called Pleasure,” a collection of
short stories; and two novels, “Little Beauties” and “My
Dream Out in the Street”. She is co-author of “The Poet’s
Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry” and
co-editor of “Dorothy Parker’s Elbow: Tattoos on Writers,
Writers on Tattoos.”
Born in Washington, D.C., Addonizio grew up in Silver
Spring, Md. She briefly attended Georgetown University
before moving to San Francisco where she earned both a
bachelor’s degree and a master of fine arts degree from San
Francisco State University.
Her awards include two fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pushcart
Prize, a Commonwealth Club Poetry Medal and the John Ciardi
Lifetime Achievement Award. She teaches private workshops
in Oakland, Calif.
For more information or for assistance related to a
disability, contact Beth Ann Fennelly at 662-915-7914 or
bafennel@olemiss.edu. For more information about the UM
Department of English, call 662-915-7439 or visit