University Events Calendar

Levine was born and raised in Detroit, a city which figures prominently in his poetry. He worked several industrial jobs before leaving Michigan in 1953 for the University of Iowa, where he studied at the Writer’s Workshop under influential poets Robert Lowell and John Berryman. He later moved to California and taught for many years at California State University, Fresno and New York University. Now retired, Levine resides in Fresno, California and Brooklyn, New York with his wife.

Author of more than 20 books of poetry, essays, and translations, Levine won the National Book Award in 1991 for his collection, "What Work Is," and the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for "The Simple Truth." He has also received numerous other awards, including the first American Book Award for Poetry and, on two occasions, the National Critics Circle Book Award. His most recent collection, "News of the World," was published in 2010.

Levine will read from his work on April 25 at 8 p.m. at the Greenville Museum of Art on Evans Street. An avid fan of John Coltrane and other Jazz greats, the poet and arriving guests will be welcomed by the music of a Jazz trio.

The event is free and open to the university community and public. However, tickets are required because of limited seating. Free tickets are available at the Central Ticket Office in Mendenhall Student Center, 1-800-ECU-ARTS.

For more information about Levine’s visit or the Contemporary Writers Series at ECU, contact Tom Douglass at douglasst@ecu.edu or Liza Wieland at wielandl@ecu.edu.