State Poet Laureate Stanley Plumly Visits Abingdon Library

From the Harford County Public Library:

Stanley Plumly, author of nine books and the Poet Laureate of Maryland, spoke to a captive audience at the Abingdon Library on March 29. Mr. Plumly discussed the life of poet John Keats and his personal involvement in the 2009 film “Bright Star” which was based on Keats’ life. Plumly read selections of his own poetry and shared the inspiration behind them and talked about his role as State Poet Laureate.

Appointed ninth Poet Laureate of Maryland in 2009 by Governor O’Malley, Mr. Plumly is a University of Maryland professor and the author of nine books of poetry including Old Heart, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2007. Most recently, Mr. Plumly authored Posthumous Keats, a “personal biography” of the English poet John Keats which has received widespread critical acclaim by reviewers for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and The New Yorker.

Stanley Plumly is the recipient of numerous awards including eight Pushcart Prizes, the Paterson Poetry Prize in 2007, an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2002 and a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation in 2001.

This author appearance was funded by grants from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Harford County Government Cultural Arts Board.