Poetry Launch: Matthew Rohrer, Annelyse Gelman, and Jack Underwood

Thursday, October 24, 2024, 7pm

A reading by Matthew Rohrer  to celebrate his new poetry collection, Army of Giants, with Annelyse Gelman and Jack Underwood, followed by a reception/signing.

Open to the public. All attendees are required to RSVP in advance; please click here

About the Poets:

​​Matthew Rohrer was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and raised in Oklahoma. He earned his MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His first collection, A Hummock in the Malookas (1995), was selected by Mary Oliver for the National Poetry Series. He is the author of Satellite (2001); A Green Light (2004); Rise Up (2007); They All Seemed Asleep (2008); A Plate of Chicken (2009); Destroyer and Preserver (2011); The Others (2017), winner of the Believer Book Award; and Army of Giants (Wave Books, 2024). He has also collaborated with poet Joshua Beckman on Nice Hat. Thanks (2002) and the audio CD Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty (2004). Rohrer’s poems are known for their surreal imagery, imagination, and sharp humor. His book, A Green Light, was short-listed for the 2005 Griffin International Poetry Prize; the judges noted that Rohrer’s poems “present us the sideways view of the world of a young American not able to assume the mantle of hero.” The recipient of a Pushcart Prize, Rohrer has published his work in The New Young American Poets: An Anthology (2000), The New American Poets: A Bread Loaf Anthology (2000), and Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century (2006). Rohrer teaches writing at New York University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Annelyse Gelman’s most recent book, Vexations (University of Chicago Press, 2023), won the 2022 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Gelman is also the author of the poetry collection Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone (Write Bloody, 2014), and the experimental pop EP About Repulsion (Fonograf Editions, 2019), as well as the artist’s book POOL (Neck Press, 2020). Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, BOMB Magazine, the PEN Poetry Series, The Iowa Review, American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. Gelman’s language-based, trans-disciplinary projects are frequently ekphrastic and collaborative, using consumer-grade technologies and available materials to explore intimacy, vulnerability, and interdependence. Beyond publishing, her expanded poetics practice has resulted in a duet with Tavares Strachan’s neon sculpture at the Blanton Museum of Art, a reading with Deborah Butterfield’s sculptures at the Manetti Shrem Museum, and a performance for José Parlá’s Amistad America mural (Austin, TX), and many other projects. She has been the recipient of fellowships and residencies from the Deutsch-Amerikanische Fulbright-Kommission, New Zealand Pacific Studio, Fondation Jan Michalski, Fondation Thalie, and elsewhere (a full CV is available upon request). She holds an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers.

Jack Underwood is an award-winning poet, writer and critic. First published as part of the Faber New Poets series in 2009, he is author of two collections of poetry, Happiness (Faber, 2015) and A Year in the Life (Faber, 2021) and his debut book of non-fiction, Not Even This was published in 2021 by Corsair. He is senior lecturer in creative writing at Goldsmiths College.