Shaun Griffin reads his poetry in Silver City this Sunday
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Tue, 04/19/2022 - 10:02pm
Event Date:
April 24, 2022 - 2:00pm Silver City, Nevada - Award winning poet Shaun Griffin will offer a reading of his poetry as part of Silver City's month long celebration of poetry. His reading at the Silver City Schoolhouse at 2pm on Sunday, April 24 will include some of his recent poems describing his experiences at the border of the U.S. and Mexico.
Shaun Griffin has received numerous awards for his work including the Nevada Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and the Rosemary McMillan Award for Lifetime Achievement in Art. In 2014 he was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.
He is the author of several books of poetry, including This is What the Desert Surrenders and Bathing in the River of Ashes. He’s also written a memoir called Anthem for a Burnished Land and a book of essays about the American West called Because the Light Will Not Forgive Me. He has edited a number of books including Desert Wood, an anthology of Nevada poets; selected poems by Joanne De Longchamps (Torn by the Light); and a volume about poet Hayden Carruth called From Sorrow’s Well. Griffin is also known for his translations of Chilean poet Emma Sepulveda’s Death to Silence, and has worked as a teaching poet at colleges and at writers’ conferences in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Poet Gary Short notes that Griffin’s latest book, The Monastery of Stars, “creates a monument to the dignity of people he meets and observes.” Griffin has consistently demonstrated this quality of honoring the dignity of human beings. More than 30 years ago, he and his wife Deborah Loesch-Griffin co-founded Community Chest, Inc, a nonprofit agency serving Nevada children and families. For decades he taught creative writing workshops for inmates at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center, and edited Razor Wire, a journal that gave voice to the art, essays, and poetry of those prisoners. He has served on the board of the nonprofit Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties for many years. His contributions were recognized with a Mike O’Callaghan Humanitarian Award in 2004.
Historic Silver City is the venue for a month full of poetry events during National Poetry Month. The 4-event poetry festival has been organized by the Resident Artist Program in Silver City with support from a number of groups.
Three previous events this month included a reading and workshop with Nevada Poet Gailmarie Pahmeier on April 3; an April 9th event with the Nevada Women’s History Project to recognize poet Irene Bruce; and a reading by award winning poet David Lee on April 10th.
Griffin’s reading is co-hosted by the the Resident Artist Program in Silver City and Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties, with additional support from the Silver City Preservation Society, Silver City Arts, and the Silver City Volunteer Library.
Shaun Griffin’s reading takes place at the Silver City Schoolhouse (community center) at 385 High Street in Silver City, Nevada 89428. Silver City is 3 miles south of Virginia City, 12 miles from Carson City, and less than 30 miles from Reno. For more information, contact Quest Lakes at quest@hcclsc.org.
