Kenneth Spencer Lecture: An Evening With Ross Gay at Liberty Hall
Graphic designed by Alex McGettrick
The Raven Book Store is partnering with The Commons at the University of Kansas for the Kenneth Spencer Lecture featuring Ross Gay! Book sales will be made available at this event by the Raven Book Store. This event is in-person only. Masks are recommended.
Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His first collection of essays, The Book of Delights, was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller. His latest collection of essays, Inciting Joy, was released in October of 2022.
Tickets are free and available at https://www.universe.com/RossGay.
The Kenneth Spencer Lecture Series is presented by The Commons each year, through the support of the Kenneth A. Spencer Lecture fund.
“BRILLIANT.” —Ada Limón, U.S.
The New York Times bestselling book of essays celebrating ordinary delights in the world around us by one of America's most original and observant writers, award-winning poet Ross Gay.
As Heard on NPR's This American Life
“Ross Gay’s eye lands upon wonder at every turn, bolstering my belief in the countless small mir
Winner, 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award, poetry category
Winner, 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Prize
Finalist, 2015 National Book Award, poetry category
Finalist, 2015 NAACP Image Awards, poetry category
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude is a sustained meditation on that which goes away—loved ones, the seasons, the earth as we know it—
Winner, 2021 PEN/Jean Stein AwardWinner, 2022 Indiana Author Award in Poetry
Be Holding is a love song to legendary basketball player Julius Erving—known as Dr. J—who dominated courts in the 1970s and ‘80s as a small forward for the Philadelphia ‘76ers. But this book-length poem is more than just an ode to a magnificent athlete.
Bringing the Shovel Down is a re-imagination of the violent mythologies of state and power.
An exploration of the various ways language can help us transcend both the banal and unusual cruelties which are inevitably delivered to us, and which we equally deliver unto others. These poems comb through violence and love, fear and loss, exploring the common denominators in each.