Poets C.D. Wright & David Wagoner

Two distinguished poets, C.D. Wright and David Wagoner, will read from their work in an evening presentation at the Library of Congress.

Speaker Biography: C.D. Wright was born in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, the daughter of a judge and a court reporter. She has published over a dozen books, including "Rising, Falling, Hovering" (2008); "Like Something Flying Backwards: New and Selected Poems" (2007); and a text edition of "One Big Self: An Investigation" (2003), a project she undertook with photographer Deborah Luster to document Louisiana inmates. She has also published several book-length poems, including the critically acclaimed "Deepstep Come Shining" (1998).

Speaker Biography: David Wagoner is recognized as the leading poet of the Pacific Northwest, often compared to his early mentor Theodore Roethke, and highly praised for his skillful, insightful and serious body of work. He has won numerous prestigious literary awards including the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, and the Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and has twice been nominated for the National Book Award. The author of ten acclaimed novels, Wagoner's fiction has been awarded the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Award. Professor emeritus at the University of Washington, Wagoner enjoys an excellent reputation as both a writer and a teacher of writing. He was selected to serve as chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 1978, replacing Robert Lowell, and was the editor of Poetry Northwest until its last issue in 2002.