Lucille Clifton and Gwyneth Walker celebrate "No Ordinary Woman"

Lucille Clifton, whose powerful explorations of race, womanhood, spirituality and morality have made her one of America’s most admired poets, will return to the SUNY Fredonia campus as a Williams Distinguished Visiting Professor for a two-day celebration of her poetry on April 2 and 3. She will be joined by renowned composer Gwyneth Walker, of Vermont.

• Concert on Monday:  As part of its Spring Concert with the Fredonia College Choir, the Fredonia Women’s Choir will perform a concert of songs set to Ms. Clifton’s poems on Monday, April 2, at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. Select pieces of Ms. Clifton's poetry will be performed by the Fredonia Women’s Choir, under the direction of Donald P. Lang of the SUNY Fredonia School of Music, with music composed by Gwyneth Walker, who will be participating in the special event. Setting Ms. Clifton’s poetry to music, Ms. Walker composed “No Ordinary Woman” in 1997. The songs were written specifically for a choir of female voices and reveal the poet  reflecting on her self and her life.
   
• Poetry reading on Tuesday: On April 3, at 7 p.m., Ms. Clifton will give a poetry reading in King Concert Hall and follow it with a book-signing. Both events are free and open to the public. Her published works are currently on sale in the FSA Bookstore in University Commons. 

•  Special concert Monday afternoon:  From 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall, the Fredonia School of Music presents a special music session featuring several pieces composed by Gwyneth Walker -- including three new pieces never before performed, which Ms. Walker has written as a special tribute to Ms. Clifton for this Fredonia appearance -- and performed by Fredonia faculty Quinn Patrick (mezzo soprano), Lori Johnson (soprano) and Jannis Peterson (piano). Ms. Clifton and Dr. Walker will take questions from the audience after the performance.
   
• Poetry Roundtable Tuesday afternoon: From 1 to 3 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall, the Department of English will be hosting a very special poetry roundtable featuring Lucille Clifton. Additionally, a special guest, poet Shara McCallum, will be present on our campus. Fredonia English faculty Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Natalie Gerber and Adrienne McCormick will be participants on the roundtable. 

For more than 35 years, Ms. Clifton, who grew up in Depew, N.Y., and attended Fredonia State Teachers College in 1955, has portrayed with clarity and elegance the experiences of being an African-American, a woman, and a human. Her deceptively simple language strikes a balance between complexity of thought and economy of words. Ranging from sadness to exuberance to anger, her voice has been one of great empathy and wisdom, believing in the redemptive gifts of faith and art.

Ms. Clifton’s poems have an unforgettable quality and can be alternatively consoling, stimulating and emotionally devastating. Readings of her poems draw large and enthusiastic audiences.  Her body of work is impressive, and includes 12 collections of poetry, one autobiographical prose work and 19 children’s books. She has received the National Book Award for Poetry and was the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards for her collections, in addition to an Emmy Award from the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Now Professor Emeritus at St. Mary’s College, Ms. Clifton served as distinguished Professor of Humanities and holder of the Hilda C. Landers Endowed chair in the Liberal Arts at St. Mary’s.  She is a former Poet Laureate of the State of Maryland

A prolific music composer, Dr. Walker has written more than 160 pieces for orchestra, band, chorus and chamber ensembles. She has dedicated her career to composing since leaving Oberlin in 1982. She is a graduate of Brown University and Hartt School of Music, and holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in music composition.

Major sponsors of the “No Ordinary Woman Celebration” include the Williams Distinguished Visiting Professorship, the Mary Louise White Fund, the Fredonia College Foundation, the Fredonia Alumni Association, the Center for Multicultural Affairs, the English Department, the School of Music, Academic Affairs, and the Women’s Studies Program.