FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 2003

WELL-KNOWN NATIVE AMERICAN POET TO SPEAK AT ROOKE LECTURE

Simon Ortiz, widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary Native American poets, will be a guest speaker in the Rooke Lecture Series on Thursday, January 23.

Mr. Ortiz has had a 40-year career marked by a fascination with language and a love of his people. His most recent work is Out There Somewhere (University of Arizona Press, 2002) and, in addition to poetry, he writes short fiction, essays and film scripts.

Writing about his own work, Mr. Ortiz says: "Poetry-Story-Community. Something in language moves us personally and socially. It captivates us, makes our hearts and spirits leap, makes us quake with sorrow. Though we may not recognize it, that something is poetry. An innate bond makes us aware of each other as family and comrades - and even as enemies. We are, therefore, a community, sometimes even in spite of ourselves as contentious, personal beings. So it is story that is the power of poetry, story that is the strength of community. Community-Story-Poetry."

This event will be held at the Peterborough Public Library at 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to all members of the public.

The Rooke Lecture Series is sponsored by the Barbara Rooke Fund, under the auspices of the Department of English Literature at Trent University, and by the Peterborough Public Library.

- 30 -

For more information contact:
Gordon Johnston, Department of English Literature, Trent University,
(705) 748-1011, ext. 1732