Poet Jay Wright Brings Unique Cross-Cultural Vision
To Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus

Brooklyn, N.Y. –Of African- and Native-American ancestry, poet Jay Wright will read from his works at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus, as part of the English Department’s "Voices of the Rainbow" reading series.

The series brings authors of varying racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds to the Campus to offer a range of artistic expressions to students and the community.

Wright will speak on Tuesday, April 13 at 6 p.m. in the Fourth Floor Humanities Lounge. The event is free and open to the public.

Called one of the most original voices in contemporary American poetry, Wright brings a singular vision and multicultural approach to African-American history. Musical forms such as the blues and jazz, as well as host of Caribbean and Latin American song and dance forms, are integral to his poetic endeavors. His books include "Transfigurations: Collected Poems," "Boleros," "Elaine’s Book" and "The Double Invention of Komo." He has also written essays on African-American poetry and poetics.

Wright has received many prestigious awards, including an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Literature Award, a MacArthur Fellowship and an Academy of American Poets Fellowship.

The "Voices of the Rainbow" series is funded by the office of Provost Gale Stevens Haynes. For more information, call Louis Parascandola at (718) 488-1109.

Long Island University opened its Brooklyn Campus in 1926, welcoming a diverse population at a time when other major universities enforced quota systems against racial and ethnic minorities. Some 30,000 students currently are enrolled at the university’s three residential and three regional campuses, including more than 11,000 at the Brooklyn Campus. Located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, the Campus is accessible to all major bus and subway routes and the Long Island Rail Road.