Vermont State Poet Laureate Grace Paley to Close 2006 Frost Program Series at Bennington College

On Sunday, November 5, 2006 the "Sunday Afternoons with Robert Frost" program series will end at Bennington College with literary luminary Grace Paley, author of poetry, short stories, essays and articles, as well as Vermont's state poet laureate. Ms. Paley will appear at the College's Tishman Lecture Hall located on Rt. 67A in North Bennington, VT, at 2:00 p.m. in a talk and reading that is co-hosted by the College and the Friends of Robert Frost, and underwritten in part by a grant from the Vermont Humanities Council.

Author, activist, teacher and speaker, Ms. Paley has been a force on the American cultural scene since her first book of stories, The Little Disturbances of Man, appeared in 1959. Other stories followed in such magazines as The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, and the New American Review, until her second volume of short fiction, Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, was published in 1974.

During the 1960s and '70s, Paley was prominent as a non-violent activist opposing the Vietnam War. She has long been a key member of the feminist, environmental and anti-nuclear movements. For more than 30 years she has played a crucial role in promoting learning about the struggle of Muslims, Christians and Jews in Palestine and Israel.

Paley's third book of stories, Later the Same Day, appeared in 1985, and in 1994 she was a finalist for the National Book Award for Collected Stories, Just as I Thought, a compendium of personal and political essays. Her many awards and citations include a Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as a Senior Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for her lifetime contribution to literature. Not only is Paley poet laureate of Vermont, where she spends much of her time currently, she also served as poet laureate of New York State from 1986-88.

In her use of images, poetic construction and plain speaking, Paley shares some of the same literary devices as Robert Frost. Sunday's program will feature readings from Frost's poetry and from her latest book, Begin Again: Collected Poems, which combines two previous collections of poetry as well as unpublished works. Her themes include the blessings of friendship, life in New York City versus Vermont and the evils of social and political injustice. In the words of one critic, "Her poems brim with compassion and tough good humor."

The program is free and open to the public. Seating is not reserved. For more information or directions, contact Carole Thompson, president of the Friends of Robert Frost, at 802-447-6200.