Book Launch: Claire Wahmanholm’s Wilder

“Full of wonder and bewilderment, cosmic vision and earthly pain.” —Rick Barot

6:00 p.m. | Reception
6:30 p.m. | Program
7:30 p.m. | Book signing

Join us at the planetarium in the brand-new Bell Museum to celebrate Claire Wahmanholm, winner of the 2018 Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry, and her debut collection of poems, Wilder. The evening will feature a reception, a reading from Wilder, and a conversation between Claire and contest judge, Rick Barot. We’re also excited to share a special announcement about the future of the poetry prize!

Free and open to the public. We’d greatly appreciate your RSVP so we can plan accordingly!

Invite your friends and share on Facebook!

Directions + Parking
The Bell Museum is located at the corner of Larpenteur and Cleveland Avenues on University of Minnesota’s St Paul Campus, directly across the street from Gibbs Farm. The main entrance to the museum is fully accessible from the parking lot. A drop off and pick up area is available near the building entrance before entering through the pay stations. Paid surface lot parking, managed by UMN Parking & Transportation Services, is available with an entrance off of Larpenteur Ave. The daily rate is $5. More information here.

Wilder maps an alien but unnervingly familiar world as it accelerates into cataclysm. Here refugees listen to relaxation tapes that create an Arcadia out of tires and bleach; here the alphabet spells out disaster and devours children. The result is a collection that both beguiles and wounds. Publishers Weekly calls Wilder a “stunning and disquieting debut” that “moves lyrically through an apocalyptic disaster.”

Claire Wahmanholm is the author of Night Vision, winner of the 2017 New Michigan Press/DIAGRAM chapbook competition. Her poems have appeared in Paperbag, PANK, Saltfront, Waxwing, Bennington Review, The Collapsar, Newfound, New Poetry from the Midwest 2017, 32 Poems, Best New Poets 2015, Memorious, The Journal, and Kenyon Review Online. Her second collection, Redmouth, is forthcoming from Tinderbox Editions in 2019. She lives and teaches in the Twin Cities.

Rick Barot is the award-winning author of three poetry collections (The Darker Fall, Want, and Chord). His poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including Poetry, The Paris Review, The New Republic, Ploughshares, Tin House, The Kenyon Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The New Yorker, and The Threepenny Review. Barot is the poetry editor of New England Review, and his fourth book of poems, The Galleons, is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions.

The Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry is the largest annual regional poetry prize, presented in partnership by Milkweed Editions and the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation. An exciting announcement about the prize will be made at this event!