Reading of Fierce and Unstoppable Poetry

Reading of “Fierce and Unstoppable” Poetry By Reginald Dwayne Betts on September 30 at Manhattanville College

Purchase, NY September 16, 2015 -- Poet and essayist Reginald Dwayne Betts on September 30 at Manhattanville College will read from his latest book of poems, “Bastards of the Reagan Era,” which Publishers Weekly praises roundly as a collection of “devastatingly beautiful” elegies “that calls out to young black men lost in the pitfalls of urban America.”

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates calls Bett’s poems “fierce and unstoppable,” as in this sample of his writing: “In the streets that grieve our silence, children die,/they fall to bullets & asthma, they fall/ into each other’s arms as mothers watch on.”

Betts will read at 7 p.m. in the East Library in Reid Castle on the Manhattanville campus, in Purchase, NY, as part of the College’s M.F.A. in Creative Writing Program’s fall series of readings and lectures. Betts, whose life’s journey has taken him from prison to Yale Law School, is a national spokesperson for the Campaign for Youth Justice.

He is the author of “A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival and Coming of Age in Prison,” and the poetry collections “Shahid Reads His Own Palm.” In 2012 President Obama named Betts a member of the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Upcoming events in the M.F.A. series at Manhattanville include: U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera and Reyna Grande, an award-winning novelist and memoirist (both October 23); Joy James, one of America’s most important scholars of the prison/industrial complex; Tom Robbins, columnist and staff writer at the Village Voice and Daily News; Anderson Smith, a Manhattanville College graduate and spoken word artist, author and motivational speaker (all three on Oct. 28). The fall events will be capped off with readings by first year M.F.A. students (November 30). All M.F.A. events are free and open to the public.

About Manhattanville College: Manhattanville College (www.manhattanville.edu) is an independent, co-educational liberal arts institution dedicated to academic excellence and social and civic action. Manhattanville prepares students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community. Located just 30 minutes from New York City, Manhattanville serves 1,700 undergraduate students and 1,000 graduate students from more than 50 countries and 30 states. Founded in 1841, the College offers more than 50 undergraduate areas of study in the arts and sciences, and offers graduate programs in Education, Business, Creative Writing, as well as Continuing and Executive Education programs.

Media Contact: J.J. Pryor, 914-323-5299, [email protected]