Poet Philip Schultz to Present 2011 Oscar Silverman Reading

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Rochester native Philip Schultz will present the University at Buffalo's 2011 Oscar Silverman Reading on Friday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m. in 250 Baird Hall on UB's North Campus.

The poetry reading will be free and open to the public.

Schultz has authored several books of poetry, including: "Like Wings" (1978), Deep Within the Ravine (1984), "My Guardian Angel Stein" (1986), "The Holy Worm of Praise" (2002), "Living in the Past" (2004), "Failure" (2007) for which he won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, "The God of Loneliness: Selected and New Poems" (2010) and "My Dyslexia" (2011), which focuses on the difficulties Schultz faced growing up with dyslexia.

Here is an excerpt from Schultz's poem "The Silence":

You always called late and drunk,

your voice luxurious with pain,

I, tightly wrapped in dreaming,

listening as if to a ghost.

Renowned author Norman Mailer gave this insight into Schultz's writings:

"Philip Schultz is a hell of a poet, one of the very best of his generation, full of slashing language, good rhythms, surprises and the power to leave you meditating in the cave of his poems."

Schultz is also the director of the Writer's Studio, which he founded in 1987 with the intent to "help fiction writers and poets discover and nurture their own voices." The New York Times has described the Writer's Studio as "the most personal of the programs."

The Oscar Silverman Reading is presented annually in memory of the distinguished scholar and teacher who chaired the UB Department of English from 1955-63.

From 1960-68, he also directed and greatly expanded the University Libraries, and was instrumental in acquiring materials in UB's world-class collection of 20th-century poetry, in particular its Robert Graves Collection, the manuscripts of Wyndham Lewis and the James Joyce Collection, which has evolved into the finest Joyce collections in the world.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.