Poet Bob Hicok to read, discuss work at ASU

<p><strong>March 11, 2010 <br />7:30 p.m.</strong></p><separator></separator><p>Bob Hicok has worked as a waiter and dishwasher, mowed lawns, worked in factories, sold Fuller brushes door-to-door and ran his own automotive die design business for many years.</p><separator></separator><p>Now, he’s a published poet, and an associate professor of English at Virginia Tech.</p><separator></separator><p>Hicok will make two appearances at Arizona State University in March, sponsored by the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing.</p><separator></separator><p>First, Hicok will discuss his work at a Public Craft Q&amp;A from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., March 10, in the Piper Writers House on the Tempe campus.</p><separator></separator><p>At 7:30 p.m., March 11, Hicok will read his work and sign books in Pima Auditorium (room 230) in the Memorial Union on the Tempe campus.</p><separator></separator><p>Hicok’s books include “This Clumsy Living,” which won the 2008 Bobbitt Prize from the Library of Congress; “Insomnia Diary”; “Animal Soul,” which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; “Plus Shipping”; “The Legend of Light,” winner of the Felix Pollak Prize.</p><separator></separator><p>Hicok writes poems that value speech and storytelling, that revel in the material offered by pop culture, and that deny categories such as "academic" or "narrative."</p><separator></separator><p>Elizabeth Gaffney wrote in the New York Times Book Review, "Each of Mr. Hicok's poems is marked by the exalted moderation of his voice – erudition without pretension, wisdom without pontification, honesty devoid of confessional melodrama. . . . His judicious eye imbues even the dreadful with beauty and meaning.”</p><separator></separator><p>Hicok has received three Pushcart Prizes, a Guggenheim and two NEA Fellowships, and his poetry has been selected for inclusion in five volumes of “Best American Poetry.” His poems have appeared in such publications as The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine and The Paris Review.</p><separator></separator><p>For more information about either event, contact the Piper Center for Creative Writing, (480) 965-6018, or <a href="http://www.asu.edu/piper">www.asu.edu/piper</a>.</p&gt;