Winthrop resident Dr. George Kalogeris, Associate Professor of English Literature and Classics at Suffolk University, will be conducting a poetry reading on Sunday, March 27th from 3:00 to 4:30 pm at The Beacon Gallery and Oddfellows Hall, 196 Winthrop Street, Winthrop, MA. Guests should enter through the front door and limited off-street parking is available.
The readings are from Kalogeris’s most recent book of poems, Winthropos. The title comes from the “Greek-ified†name his father, an immigrant from Greece, gave to the town of Winthrop where the family settled.
Following in the spirit of his acclaimed Guide to Greece, Kalogeris conjures Winthrop as a central focus of lyric and elegiac memory. While the poems in Winthropos reach back into the Hellenic past for imagery and inspiration, they often reside in the American present of their conception, forging childhood memory and local custom into a work of meditative power and evocative beauty.
In an editorial review, David Ferry writes: “Through his knowledge of the culture of the Greek towns his parents came from, and his knowledge of the town of Winthrop, Massachusetts, where he grew up, and his deep knowledge of the poetry of ancient Greece, there is a great merging by means of his powerful versification in these marvelous poemsâ€.
The poetry reading coincides with Greek Independence Day (March 25th) which honors the Greek Revolution of 1821. Since 1987, U.S. Presidents have held a commemorative event at the White House in recognition of the contribution of Greek civilization and the birth of democracy in ancient Athens.
A light reception will follow at the Oddfellows Hall in conjunction with the Beacon Gallery. The Oddfellows are led by Noble Grand Gerianne Gatchell and the Beacon Gallery is owned by local businessman and noted photographer John Munson.
George Kalogeris is a graduate of Winthrop High School, Class of 1973, where he was a member of the boys’ basketball team. He received his Bachelor of Science from Suffolk University, and his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from Boston University.
Kalogeris is also the author of Guide to Greece, Dialogos, and Camus:Carnets. He is the winner of the James Dickey Poetry Prize, the Meringoff Prize for Poetry, and the New Ohio Review Poetry Prize.