This event is a part of the “GIANT NIGHT: The Poetry Project at 50” platform series.

Thought of as the pre-spirit of The Poetry Project, Paul Blackburn gave the first “official” reading of The Poetry Project on September 22, 1966. His poetry, translations, and organization and recording of early downtown readings, exerted a steady and widespread influence across a wide range of aesthetic practices. In his lifetime Blackburn published thirteen books of original poetry as well as five major works of translation. Twelve other books were published posthumously. The Collected Poems of Paul Blackburn (1985) and The Selected Poems of Paul Blackburn (1989) are both available from Persea Books, and a reprint of Proensa: An Anthology of Troubadour Poetry, is due out from New York Review Books in 2016.

Join us for this kick-off event in “GIANT NIGHT: The Poetry Project at 50” as we read Blackburn’s work. With Kimberly Lyons, Ammiel Alcalay, Simone White, Martha King, Basil King, Jerome Rothenberg, Marcella Durand, Bob Holman, David Henderson, Anne Waldman, Rochelle Owens, George Economou, Mark Weiss, Patricia Spears Jones, Brenda Coultas, Gregg Weatherby, Carlos Blackburn and Joan Blackburn. We will also listen to some tracks from Blackburn’s 1966  inaugural Poetry Project reading.

This event follows a panel conversation on Blackburn’s work at The Center for Humanities co-presented with Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative on Monday, September 26, 6:30-8:30.

A limited-edition broadside of a Paul Blackburn poem paired with a Basil King drawing, designed by Edwin Torres to commemorate In.On.Or About the Premises: A Celebration of Paul Blackburn and the 50th Anniversary of The Poetry Project in collaboration with Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative will be available.