Writing “some of the most important poetry in the world today,” Jane Hirshfield has devoted her to the art of language and the practice of Zen Buddhism.
A Soto Zen practitioner of nearly 50 years, Hirshfield, who received her lay ordination in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi, writes poems that provide a space for reflection and awakening. In her forthcoming collection, The Asking: New and Selected Poems, she investigates the world in a time of algorithms, AI, and climate crisis, probing the contradictions that shape our existence and bearing witness to the beauty within impermanence.
Join us on September 26 for a poetry reading and discussion with Hirshfield about her new body of work. In conversation with Tricycle’s Editor-in-Chief James Shaheen, she will share poems from her new collection, offer insights at the intersection of Buddhist practice and creative process, explore her upbringing and inspirations, and consider how we can live with greater courage, curiosity, and kinship with all of life.
This event is free for Tricycle Premium subscribers and $10 for general admission. Subscribe to Premium or upgrade your existing subscription for free access.
Speakers
Jane Hirshfield
Writing “some of the most important poetry in the world today” (Naomi Shihab Nye, The New York Times Magazine), Jane Hirshfield is one of American poetry’s central spokespersons for concerns of the biosphere, interconnection, and the alliance of poetry and the sciences. A practitioner of Soto Zen for almost 50 years, she received lay-ordination in 1979 in the San Francisco Zen Center lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Hirshfield’s honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations and National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and Columbia University’s Translation Center Award. Author of the newly published The Asking: New and Selected Poems, nine previous poetry collections, and two now-classic collections of essays on poetry’s infrastructure and craft, she also edited and co-translated four books presenting world poets from the deep past. Hirshfield’s work, translated into seventeen languages, appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Tricycle, Orion, and ten editions of The Best American Poetry. A former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, she was elected in 2019 into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
James Shaheen
James Shaheen, Tricycle’s editor-in-chief, began his Buddhist practice in the mid-1990s, studying with teachers from a number of Buddhist traditions. He is particularly interested in Buddhism’s growth in the West and its applicability to Western politics, culture, and everyday life. He has been with Tricycle for nearly 25 years.
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DETAILS
- Date: September 26, 2023
- Time: 5-6 pm ET
- Format: Zoom Webinar
- Price: Premium Subscribers: Free // General admission: $10