Canadian poet Norris to give reading at UM’s Jenness Hall Nov. 15

ORONO – For the past quarter-century, Ken Norris has been producing poetry that has established his reputation as a Canadian writer. A University of Maine English professor since 1985, he was recognized last month when Talonbooks published a volume of his selected poems, “Hotel Montreal: New and Selected Poems.”

Norris will read from his works at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Soderberg Center, Jenness Hall, University of Maine. Fellow Canadian Rob McLennan, who recently completed a book tour through Canada to promote their latest works, will join him at this event.

Norris is the author of more than two dozen books and chapbooks – short, specialized volumes – of poetry. He also is the editor of eight anthologies.

Another volume of his selected poems, “Full Sun,” was published in 1993. His work has been in anthologies in English-speaking countries, France, Belgium and Israel.

Norris said the publication of a book of selected poems is satisfying.

“It mostly makes you feel like you’ve had a career,” he said. “I told my students that a book of selected poems is like a ‘greatest hits’ album for a rock band.”

Norris’ work has covered a wide range of subjects, including travels to the South Seas, social and political issues, and love.

Tony Brinkley, chairman of the English department at the University of Maine, said that Norris’ ability to engage a variety of subjects in his poetry has been significant in the development of his distinctive voice, and for Canadian literature as a whole.

“Ken Norris is a major poet whose writing has had a shaping influence on Canadian poetry, and on the interplay between modernism and post-modernism in Canadian writing,” he said.

“Of particular importance has been his meditation on the course of recent history and the way that, in the last half of the 20th century, North American writing has connected with the cultures of the South Pacific, Asia and other parts of the world,” Brinkley added.

Norris, who was born in New York City in 1951, moved to Canada in the early 1970s. He now teaches Canadian literature and creative writing at the university.