Wendy Barker, author of Lunacy of Light: Emily Dickinson and the Experience of Metaphor (as well as numerous collections of her own poetry) will discuss the Amherst poet’s use of metaphor to challenge nineteenth-century restrictions on women.

This discussion is part of “The Poet Sings: Emily Dickinson,” a series of events based around an upcoming recital by the Conspirare virtuoso choir (performances on September 10th and 13th; see their website for further details), in which they will explore the expressive power and range of Emily Dickinson’s poetry.

Wendy Barker’s sixth collection of poetry, One Blackbird at a Time, received the John Ciardi Prize for Poetry and is forthcoming from BkMk Press Fall 2015. Her fourth chapbook, From the Moon, Earth Is Blue, is also forthcoming in 2015, from Wings Press. Other books include a selection of poems with accompanying essays, Poems’ Progress (Absey & Co., 2002), and a selection of translations, Rabindranath Tagore: Final Poems (co-translated with Saranindranath Tagore, Braziller, 2001). Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including The Best American Poetry 2013. She is the author of Lunacy of Light: Emily Dickinson and the Experience of Metaphor (Southern Illinois University Press, 1987, reprt. 1991), as well as co-editor (with Sandra M. Gilbert) of The House is Made of Poetry: The Art of Ruth Stone (Southern Illinois University Press, 1996). Recipient of NEA and Rockefeller fellowships, she serves as poetry editor of Persimmon Tree: An Online Journal of the Arts for Women Over Sixty. She is the Pearl LeWinn Endowed Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she has taught since 1982.