Kay Ryan
Photo: Christopher Felver

An Evening With Kay Ryan, US Poet Laureate 2008–2010

9 MAY 2011 — monday

City Arts & Lectures presents former U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan, The Best of It: New and Selected Poems, Herbst Theatre, SF, 401 Van Ness, SF, special $15 tickets for Poetry Flash readers, enter/mention discount code POET, 8:00 (tickets: 415/392-4400, www.cityboxoffice.com)

More about the poet
Kay Ryan writes distinctive poetry characterized by its brevity, imagery and wit. Deceptively simple, her compact poems delight with bracing wordplay, wry humor, and what the New York Times describes as "stealthy insights amid short phrases." The Best of It: New and Selected Poems, a finalist for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award, just received the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry amid widespread praise. Her published collections include Strangely Marked Metal, Flamingo Watching, Say Uncle, and The Niagara River. Ryan was named the sixteenth Poet Laureate of the United States in 2008 and served two terms. A 2004 Guggenheim Fellow, Ryan's many other awards include the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, Ingram Merrill Award and the Pushcart Prize. She taught at College of Marin for over thirty years. "Ms. Ryan's poems are, in 2010, about as good as American poetry gets." —The New York Times