Tony Abbott

Davidson poet Tony Abbott will make several appearances around town this week, reading from his latest book “New and Selected Poems, 1989-2009.” The volume, from Davidson-based Lorimer Press, includes previously published work poems and 10 new poems.

Dr. Abbott will read Thursday, Dec. 3, at 3:30 p.m. at The Pines at Davidson, with a book signing to follow. On Friday night at 7, he will be signing books at Main Street Books, 126 S. Main St., during Christmas in Davidson. That event is sponsored by Charlotte Writers’ Club North and also will feature writers Joseph Bathanti and Brenda Flanagan.

Sunday is the official launch for the book. Charlotte writer
and newspaper columnist Dannye Romine Powell will introduce Abbott in a reading and book signing sponsored by the Davidson College English Department at 3 p.m. in Tyler-Tallman Hall at Sloan Music Center. A book signing follows that event as well.

Dr. Abbott is the Dana Professor Emeritus of English at Davidson College and has been described as “celebrated, widely published and warmly appreciated” by former North Carolina Poet Laureate Fred Chappell. Mr. Chappell says of the new book, “There is nothing drab or coy here; Abbott’s world is alive, chirping and talking, singing and thinking.” Ray Olson, writing in Booklist Starred Review, said of the new book, “These are poems that revive the soul.”

Dr. Abbott told an interviewer several years ago that his poems “celebrate that which is precious, and that which is always in danger of being lost. We try to hold the moment before it is gone. Part of the function of poetry is to hold the dark back.”

The new book is Dr. Abbott’s fifth volume of poetry. His first one, “The Girl in
the Yellow Raincoat” (1989) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His 2005
volume, entitled “The Man Who,” won the Oscar Arnold Young Award for best
poetry book of the year from the Poetry Council of North Carolina. It
consists of about 50 narrative poems about characters real and imagined
that Dr. Abbott links with the first three words of their titles. His other
poetry volumes are “A Small Thing Like a Breath” and “The Search for Wonder in
the Cradle of the World.”

He is also the author of two novels, the Novello Prize-winning “Leaving Maggie Hope” and its sequel “The Three Great Secret Things.”

He maintains a vigorous schedule of activities as a writer, educator,
visiting artist, and lecturer. He currently serves as president of the North
Carolina Poetry Society, has been president of the Charlotte Writers Club
and the North Carolina Writers Network, and has chaired the North Carolina
Writers Conference.

He corresponds frequently with established and amateur writers across the
state, generously promoting current work and nurturing the next generation.
Every year he teaches a seven-week poetry workshop at Queens University, and
last spring taught fiction writing at Catawba College. He frequently
presents programs about religion and literature, and teaches an adult Sunday
School class in that area every year at Davidson College Presbyterian Church
where he regularly worships. Beginning in January he will teach a 12-week
course on religion and literature for Union Theological Seminary in
Charlotte.

RELATED LINKS

Listen to a DavidsonNews.net 4-minute audio interview with Tony Abbott from January 2008, about life in Davidson and his writing. CLICK HERE> ^[1]