Luxagraf
09.18.07 // 04:39 p.m.
John Ashbery: MtvU’s First Poet Laureate
John Ashbury, poet of the MTV generation. Yes, apparently mtvU now has a poet laureate. That’s flippin’ hilarious.
MtvU, the subsidiary of MTV Networks that is broadcast only on college campuses, will announce today that it has selected its first poet laureate. No, he doesn’t rap. And it’s not Bob Dylan, or even Justin Timberlake.
It is John Ashbery, the prolific 80-year-old poet and frequent award winner known for his dense, postmodern style and playful language. One of the most celebrated living poets, Mr. Ashbery has won MacArthur Foundation and Guggenheim fellowships and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror.
Excerpts of his poems will appear in 18 short promotional spots — like commercials for verse — on the channel and its Web site (mtvu.com, which will also feature the full text of the poems). In another first, mtvU will help sponsor a poetry contest for college students. The winner, chosen by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa, will have a book published next year by HarperCollins as part of the National Poetry Series.
Visit Site: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/books/27laur.html?ex=1345867200&en=16...