English professor to read from his poetry

Poet John Tagliabue, professor emeritus of English at Bates College, will read from his poetry Thursday, Sept. 24, at 8 p.m. in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Tagliabue has published six collections of poetry, most recently New and Selected Poems: 1942-1997 (National Poetry Foundation, 1998). Born in Cantu, Italy, and raised in North Bergen, N.J., from the age of four, he has been a Fulbright professor in Pisa, Tokyo, Shanghai and Jakarta. Tagliabue received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Columbia University, studying during the 1940s with Allen Ginsburg and John Kerouac. The author of 12 puppet plays for children and the recipient of Karolyi and Rockefeller Foundation grants for writing, Tagliabue arrived at Bates in 1953 and retired from the faculty in 1989. Recently, he and his wife, Grace, moved from Lewiston to Providence, R.I. Poet Amy Clampitt wrote of his work, “John Tagliabue writes out of a deeply sacramental sense of nature and history. He is, moreover, that rare person to whom poetry appears to come as naturally as breathing.”

Tagliabue’s reading is part of a series of poetry readings sponsored by the English department at Bates. The next reading will feature Portland poet Betsy Sholl reading from her work Oct. 14.