Our lecturer this year is the celebrated American poetics scholar, poet and lyric theorist Hank Lazer, who will be speaking about one of Rowan Williams's most recent books,The Edge of Words: God and the Habits of Language (2014). This spring's lecture and workshop form part of an ongoing conversation which will continue next year when Williams himself (the former Archbishop of Canterbury and renowned theologian) will be our 2018 Religion & Literature Lecturer.
Hank Lazer's lecture, entitled "Grace, & the Spiritual Reach of Representation," will take place at 5:00 pm on March 29 in 100-104 McKenna Hall, followed by a reception afterwards in the atrium. On the following day, Thursday March 30th, a lunchtime workshop (sandwiches provided) will take place in 119 O'Shaughnessy Hall from 12:30 to 1:30. We will, in addition to discussing the lecture, also discuss the first chapter of Williams's book and an essay by Lazer entitled "Of Course Poetry is Difficult / Poetry is Not Difficult". Finally, later in the afternoon on the 30th, at 6:00 pm, our guest will offer an innovative reading of his recent work, which he calls "shape-writing"; it will take place in the same room, 119 O'Shaghnessy Hall, and all will be invited to take part in what he describes as "part poetry reading, part talk, part conversation, part improvised collaborative performance."
For more information about our speaker and these events, please visit Religion & Literature's website: http://religionandlit.nd.edu/.