Hyde Not Your Talents. They for Use Were Made*

I couldn’t tell you how long the Hugh C. Hyde Living Writers Series has been held here at the library…longer than I’ve worked here, and that’s been more than eight years now. It’s become a part of the library, an institution, as they say, and one that I hope will remain for a very long time.

The Hugh Hyde Series is sponsored by the Department of English and Comparative Literature and endowed by a local man with a passion for poetry and writing named Hugh Hyde. Working tirelessly behind the scenes is Victoria Featherstone, a lecturer in the English Department who serves as the faculty advisor to the series. Here in the library, librarian Markel Tumlin ensures that everything is in place for each reading: room setup, signage, etc.

Tomorrow night (March 3) begins another semester of Hugh Hyde readings at the library. Brandon Cesmat will be paying us a visit to read from his books, which include Light in All Directions and Driven into the Shade. Brandon is a graduate of SDSU who now teaches at California State University, San Marcos. He also has been a poet-teacher for California Poets in the Schools since 1993. The reading will be held in Room LL430 at 7 p.m. No money or reservations are required; just show up and enjoy yourself!

*Original quote by Benjamin Franklin

Poetry by Rachel

SDSU’s Department of English and Comparative Literature is launching a new series of literary events this spring, and the second one will be held at the SDSU Library on March 1 at 5:30 p.m. Poet Rachel Galvin will be sharing her works and insights with us that evening in Room LL430, and I think this will be a reading you don’t want to miss.

Rachel published her debut book, Pulleys & Locomotion, in September 2009. According to Rachel, her book can be described as “a hub for movement, immigration, and flight. Alternating between lyrical extension and succinct prose poems, this book brings together science, philosophy, folktale, and half-remembered
history.” Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

Rachel Galvin grew up in Rochester, New York, and has lived in Washington, D.C. and Paris. She has been a fellow at Hedgebrook, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and a James A. Michener Fellow in Poetry at the University of Texas at Austin. Her poems, translations, and essays appear in journals including McSweeney’s, Drunken Boat, Gulf Coast, Humanities Magazine, and World Literature Today. She’s currently a graduate student in comparative Literature at Princeton University, where she studies 20th century poetry.

Hope you can attend!