James Lenfestey to read at MSUM April 30
Thursday, April 30 | 4:30 p.m. | Livingston Lord Library Porch
James P. Lenfestey, a former editorial writer for the StarTribune who won several Page One Awards for excellence, will read from his work at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 30 in the university’s Livingston Lord Library Porch. The free reading is part of the Tom McGrath Visiting Writers Series.
Lenfestey has published a collection of personal essays, five collections of poems, a poetry anthology, and co-edited Robert Bly in This World, published by University of Minnesota Press. A memoir with prose and poems, Seeking the Cave: A Pilgrimage to Cold Mountain, published in 2014 by Milkweed Editions, is a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award.
It is tells of Lenfestey’s voyage from the U.S. to Tokyo to a road trip across the expanse of China with frequent excursions into the country’s rich historical and cultural landmarks. As he makes his way to Cold Mountain Cave, he discovers his identity as a writer and a poet.
Author Wang Ping writes: “We should all read, or rather, experience James Lenfestey’s Seeking the Cave, a journey wild, magical, quantum-leaping—a pilgrimage we must take if we want to know who we are, why we are here, where our home is.”
As a journalist Lenfestey has covered climate science since 1988. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, political activist Susan Lenfestey. They have four children and eight grandchildren.
About the McGrath Visiting Writers Series
Named in honor of the late Thomas McGrath, an internationally recognized and award-winning author who taught at Moorhead State University from 1969-1983, the Tom McGrath Visiting Writers Series brings to campus some of the finest contemporary writers to read and share their work with students, faculty and the community. The series has featured more than 150 featured writers and sponsored or supported more than 50 other writers and events since its inaugural season.
Some of the many distinguished visiting writers have included U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins; Pulitzer Prize winners Carol Shields and Ted Kooser; National Book Award Winners Robert Bly and William Stafford; and National Book Critics Circle Award winners Louise Erdrich and B.H. Fairchild.