Author Reading: “An Anthology of Rain” by Phillis Levin

Acclaimed poet Phillis Levin will read from An Anthology of Rain (2025), the most recent of her six published collections, at 5pm on Saturday, April 26.  A book signing follows; admission is free, and refreshments with be served.

This advance praise for Phillis Levin’s new book of poems, An Anthology of Rain, the most recent of her six published collections, comes from Pulitzer Prize winning American poet and essayist Vijay Seshadri:

“Phillis Levin’s poetry has been characterized over the past thirty years by an astonishingly consistent excellence. She has written…poems that are precise, feeling-full and piercing, elegant, informed and aware of the world, and rich in the kind of profound play that is a hallmark of real art.”

Perhaps Seshardi was thinking of lines like the following when he wrote that tribute:

There is a needle in the sky
Being threaded now, but the thread is blue:
That is why you cannot see it
Threading its way. When all is said and done
It will keep sewing…

From “A Needle in the Sky” in May Day, by Phillis Levin

Levin’s poems have appeared in many well-known publications such as The Atlantic, Kenyon Review, The New Yorker, Paris Review, Plume, and The Yale Review. Her book Mr. Memory & Other Poems was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and received a coveted starred review from Library Journal, which named it a Top Pick of the Year in Poetry.

A Guggenheim Fellow, Levin’s honors include the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award, a Fulbright Scholar Award, an Ingram Merrill Grant, the Richard Hugo Prize, and fellowships from the Trust of Amy Lowell and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey, Levin taught creative writing at The University of Maryland, NYU, and the 92nd Street Y. She is now Poet-in-Residence and Professor of English emerita at Hofstra. She lives with her husband in New York City and West Cornwall, Connecticut.

Registration is required.

Please Note: Ms. Levin will also give a poetry workshop at the library on the following day, Sunday, April 27, with limited registration.