Breathing the Water: Short Films about Denise Levertov

Monday May 4th, 6-7pm at The Project Room

Photograph by Christopher Felver

Denise Levertov was a great 20th century American poet who lived in Seattle from 1989 until her death in 1997.  A convert to Catholicism, she wrote about faith, nature and the environment, politics and social justice.

Author Rebecca Brown, Poet Jan Wallace, and The Project Room will host this evening remembering Levertov by introducing her work, screening short films about her and sharing audio and video clips of Levertov reading. 

Breathing The Water is part of a city-wide celebration of Levertov which culminates May 16th, Seattle's official Denise Levertov Day.  Join the final celebration on May 16, 2015, when Coral Arts, a vocal ensemble in residence at St. Joseph Church where Levertov was a parishioner, will present the world premiere of a setting of Levertov's poem "Making Peace." St. Joseph is also sponsoring the city-wide celebration of Levertov's legacy as poet, activist, and woman of faith.  Concert tickets are available through Choral Arts. 

Read more about Levertov in TPR's recent Off Paper Essay,  "Bearing Witness" by Jan Wallace. Information about additional Levertov events online.  Special thanks to Levertov event sponsors: 
 

FULL SCHEDULE OF CITY-WIDE EVENTS

April 27 Introducing Levertov, St James Cathedral, 7 PM
May 4 Levertov films, The Project Room, 1315 E Pine, 6 PM
May 5 Homage to Levertov reading, Sorrento Hotel, 7 PM
May 7 Introducing Levertov, St Joseph Parish Center, 7 PM
May 9 Levertov gravesite visit, Lake View Cemetery, 11 AM
May 14 Levertov evening, Elliot Bay Bookstore, 7 PM
May 16 Choral Arts concert, St Joseph Church, 8 PM
preceded by preconcert conversation, 7:30 PM
Reception, St Joseph Parish Center, 6:15 PM

City of Seattle declares May 16 Denise Levertov Day


Rebecca Brown. Photo by Andrea Auge

Rebecca Brown. Photo by Andrea Auge

Rebecca Brown is a writer, teacher and literary activist.  She is the author of seven novels, including The End of YouthThe Terrible Girls, and What Keeps Me Here, and her short stories are widely anthologized. Her novel The Gifts of the Body won a Lambda Literary Award and has been translated into several languages. Brown divides her time between Seattle and Vermont, where she is a faculty member in the Master of Fine Arts program at Goddard College.

Jan Wallace, poet and essayist, was a dear friend of Denise Levertov's.  Her poems currently appear in Terrain, A Journal of Built and Natural Environments. Her work has also appeared in ARCADE, Fine Madness, Field and other journals. Read Jan's recent essay about Levertov, "Bearing Witness" in TPR's online journal, Off Paper.