An internationally renowned poet who is the recipient of some of the world's most coveted literary prizes will make a rare Scottish appearance next month when he delivers a poetry reading at the University of Aberdeen.
The Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies (RIISS) at the University of Aberdeen, and Word –University of Aberdeen Writers Festival – have joined forces to present a very special reading by the award-winning poet Paul Muldoon, on Friday, November 5, at 6.30pm, at King's College Centre.
Born in County Armagh in 1951, Paul Muldoon is now based at Princeton University, USA, where he is Director of the Creative Writing Programme.
He has been described by the Times Literary Supplement as “the most significant English-language poet born since the second World War” while his poetry has been praised as “Grounded, glistering, gritty, graceful and capable of taking in almost anything, and anybody.” Paul Muldoon's work Moy Sand and Gravel (2002), secured him the famed Pulitzer Prize in 2003.
Professor George Watson, Director of RIISS, said he was delighted to be welcoming a poet of Paul Muldoon's standing to the University of Aberdeen. He said: “Paul Muldoon is a truly dazzling poet, a writer gifted with astonishing verbal dexterity and intellectual agility, whose virtuosity (manifested frequently in puns, jokes, and parodies) extends the limits of Irish poetry. His sardonic wit is permeated by an underlying seriousness: his version of the Irish troubles is simultaneously wildly funny and deeply unsettling.”
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Paul Muldoon was given an American Academy of Arts and Letters award in literature for 1996.
Other recent awards include the 1994 T.S Eliot Prize, the 1997 Irish Times Poetry Prize, the 2003 Griffin International Prize for Excellence in Poetry, the 2004 American Ireland Fund Literary Award, and the 2004 Shakespeare Prize.
Word Festival Producer Elly Rothnie said: “Word has a strong tradition of bringing some of the world's finest poets to the North-east and we are delighted to welcome Paul Muldoon fresh from winning the Pulitzer in 2003. It's going to be a very special evening, so book early!"
Admission to the Paul Muldoon Poetry Reading on Friday, November 5, at the University of Aberdeen, is free. To reserve your place call (01224) 273874, or email word@abdn.ac.uk , or visit www.abdn.ac.uk/word/.