Poet & Author Kevin Young at Purchase College

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Purchase College-SUNY will present Kevin Young in Conversation on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, at 4:30 p.m. The program, which is free and open to the public, will take place at Purchase College in the Humanities Theatre (735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY). As Purchase College’s 2018-19 Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature, Mr. Young is featured in a series of events at the college.

A figure of notable stature in the literary world, Kevin Young is the poetry editor at The New Yorker and the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He has published 10 books of poetry and two award-winning non-fiction books. His prestigious honors include being named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as winner of the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize and the PEN Open Book Award. He was also longlisted for the National Book Award and received a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.

“This is an extremely exciting time for Purchase,” said Mariel Rodney, assistant professor of literature at Purchase College. “Kevin Young is a cultural tour de force. His poems and prose reveal the complexity of an evolving American experience borne through decades of sound and color. We are, in a word, captivated.”

The Durst Distinguished Lecture Series and the Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature are funded by the Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature Endowment. The mission of the Durst programs is to infuse the experience and intellect of leading writers into the Purchase community, while providing diverse opportunities for these writers to interact with students and influence campus life.

As a small public college, Purchase is proud to introduce students to the level of expertise provided by the Durst Distinguished Lectures, which provide outstanding opportunities for students and local community members to interact with accomplished authors.

In addition to Kevin Young, who will again be featured on April 10, the Durst Distinguished Lecture series will bring other literary luminaries to Westchester this spring. Danielle Evans, author of an acclaimed short story collection, will visit on March 18 and award-winning poet Ilya Kaminsky will appear on March 20.

For more information, please visit: https://www.purchase.edu/academics/school-of-humanities/lectures/durst-distinguished-lectures/ or call 914.251.6550.

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