Texas Poets Laureate Karla K. Morton and Alan Birkelbach — both award-winning writers, each with 11 published books — will present a poetry reading at Cal State San Bernardino’s John M. Pfau Library on Thursday, Jan. 19, from noon-1:30 p.m., in PL 4005.
Morton will read selections from her 11 books, including the recently released “Accidental Origami: New and Selected Works.”
Birkelbach will also read favorites from his 11 collections, including “Waking the Bones: New and Selected Works,” published earlier this year.
The authors also will share poetry and highlights from their ongoing National Parks Tour and hold a Q-and-A session.
Morton and Birkelbach will be visiting Channel Islands National Park and Joshua Tree National Park as part of their “Words of Preservation: a Poets Laureate National Parks Tour,” launched last year to celebrate the National Park System’s 100 year anniversary. They will visit 50 or more of the 59 U.S. national parks during the project, documenting their journey through poetry and photography, ultimately creating one or more books. Their plan is to donate a percentage of sales to the National Park Service.
The idea for the project came to Morton while she was working on “Accidental Origami” in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and John Muir, Morton and Birkelbach hope to contribute to the exploration, preservation and protection of our country’s national parks for the next 100 years.
“In this digital age, there is no replacement for the grandeur of Mother Nature. Wonder cannot be imported or exported, but it can be captured with words, and we can think of no better treasure to explore, champion and share through our work than the U.S. national parks,” said Morton.
Pfau Library Dean Cesar Caballero said, “We’re enormously honored to host Texas Poets Laureate Karla Morton and Alan Birkelbach; they have each created a remarkable body of accessible and evocative poetry, inspired by a deep appreciation for the majesty and beauty of America’s diverse physical landscape.”
The event is free and open to the public. Parking on campus is $6 per vehicle.
For more information, contact Robie Madrigal, communications specialist, Pfau Library, at (909) 537-5104 or rmadriga@csusb.edu.