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On its 25th anniversary, Poetry Center San Jose has more than one happy milestone to celebrate. Not only will the center mark a quarter-century of offering literary readings and workshops for the community, but it will also fête a founding member, Nils Peterson, on his 70th birthday. Poetry Center San Jose observes this doubly auspicious occasion on Nov. 23 with a party for Peterson at History Park in San Jose.
Refreshments will be served, but cake won't be the only treat at this party: the guest of honor will do party guests the honor of offering a special reading of his work. The reading will be something of a retrospective, covering more than 40 years of Peterson's poems.
Peterson's poems, stories and articles have been published in many journals. Robert Bly edited a collection of Peterson's poems, titled The Comedy of Desire. He also has a chapbook called Here Is No Ordinary Rejoicing. Peterson is a professor emeritus in English from San José State University, where he taught for almost 40 years and directed the creative-writing program for more than two decades. He lives in Campbell with his wife, Judith.
Peterson may have formally retired from teaching, but his works continue to inspire--and he continues to work in the arts. Opening this week at the San Jose Museum of Art is Keeping Company: A Painter and Three Poets, an exhibit of prints by Patrick Surgalski. The artist created lithographs and etchings that incorporate poems by Peterson, Bly and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Next spring Peterson will narrate a concert featuring the Amadeus Piano Trio and clarinetist David Jones at the San Jose Chamber Music Society.
Every year, Peterson heads up a Valentine's Day reading and celebration that has become a well-loved annual tradition at Poetry Center San Jose.
In its 25 years, the center has hosted readings by internationally famed poets such as Nobel Prizewinner Czeslaw Milosz and U.S. poet laureate Robert Hass. Poetry Center San Jose has also organized many literary workshops for South Bay writers, with classes often taught by leading poets and writers.
Recently, the center refurbished its new headquarters, the Markham House. The 1860s Victorian, which was once home, appropriately enough, to the poet Edwin Markham, has been transformed into a gathering place for poets.
Poetry Center San Jose holds a 70th birthday party for Nils Peterson and celebrates its 25th anniversary on Sun, Nov. 23, 2 p.m. Free. The Firehouse at San Jose History Park, 1650 Senter Road, San Jose. For more information, call 408.292.3254 or see www.pcsj.org.
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