Renowned USD Poet to Present 68th Annual Harrington Lecture
Roripaugh, who served as South Dakota State Poet Laureate from 2015–2019, will give a guided reading through her five published volumes of poetry, as well as read from and discuss her new work-in-progress, talking about inceptions, influences and inspirations. She will discuss an aesthetic practice that—in addition to requiring a profound commitment to the art of poetry—also requires a profound commitment to and engagement with the art of lifelong learning.
Roripaugh is the author of five volumes of poetry, the most recent of which, "tsunami vs. the fukushima 50," was listed as a finalist for the 2019 Lambda Literary Awards and named a best volume of poetry in 2019 by the New York Public Library. Her second volume, "Year of the Snake" (Southern Illinois University Press), was named winner of the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award in Poetry/Prose for 2004, and her first book, "Beyond Heart Mountain" (Penguin Books), was a 1998 winner of the National Poetry Series. The recipient of a 2003 Archibald Bush Foundation Individual Artist Fellowship, Roripaugh was also named the 2004 winner of the Prairie Schooner Strousse Award, the 2001 winner of the Frederick Manfred Award for Best Creative Writing awarded by the Western Literature Association and the 1995
winner of the Randall Jarrell International Poetry Prize.
At USD Roripaugh also serves as director of creative writing and editor-in-chief of "South Dakota Review," a literary print journal published quarterly since 1963.
Named in 1966 in honor of Elbert Harrington, professor of speech and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences (1945-1970), the lecture is an annual event featuring a distinguished professor with long-standing service to the College of Arts & Sciences. Each year a faculty committee in Arts & Sciences recommends to the dean the name of a faculty member to deliver the Harrington Lecture. The faculty member must be a teacher and scholar, and the lecture must be non-technical, blending insight into liberal education with the faculty member’s work as a scholar.
USD faculty, staff and students will receive a link to join the Harrington Lecture via email. The public is invited to attend by signing in at link.usd.edu/communitywebinars on the day of the event.
