In conversation with Nathaniel Rosenthalis
12:10 – 1:00 at Morristown & Morris Township Library
About the author
Brenda Shaughnessy is the Okinawan-Irish American author of seven poetry collections, including Tanya, The Octopus Museum (a New York Times 2019 Notable Book,) and Our Andromeda, finalist for the Griffin International Prize, the PEN/Open Book Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Prize. Recipient of awards from The American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Guggenheim Foundation, she is professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program at Rutgers University-Newark. She lives in West Orange, New Jersey.
MFOB featured book: Tanya
In Tanya, the award-winning poet weaves a tapestry of literary heritage and intimate reflection as she pays tribute to women artists and mentors, and circles the ongoing mysteries of friendship, love, art, and loss. Shaughnessy dwells in memories of the women who set her on her artistic path, exploring the eternal quality of an intense touchstone relationship with Tanya. We all have our own Tanya, and in this book we meet friends, mentors, sisters, lovers, who inhabit a verse classroom where Shaughnessy’s passion for literature—forged in her own formative studies—is our teacher.
