The Lamont Fund, established in 1982 by Corliss Lamont, Class of 1920, and Jacquelyn Thomas, former Academy Librarian, supports the Academy Library's Lamont Poetry Series. Two poets are invited each year to give readings of their poetry and to attend English classes.
The first Lamont Poet, on April 27, 1983, was Jorge Luis Borges. He has been followed by more than 50 others, ranging from Denise Levertov and Seamus Heaney to Yusef Komunyakaa and C.K. Williams.
Each visiting poet is photographed and asked to present the library with a manuscript poem. These are then framed and hung in the Special Collections department on the fourth floor of the library.
The Lamont Fund also support the Lamont Younger Poets program. See our Lamont Younger Poets page for more information.
Our Lamont Poetry Series continues in winter term with a reading by Patrick Rosal on January 24th. Held in Assembly Hall, all Lamont Poet readings begin at 7:30pm and are followed by a book signing. The readings are free and open to the public.
About Patrick Rosal
Patrick Rosal is the author of five full-length poetry collections including Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive, My American Kundiman, Boneshepherds, and Brooklyn Antediluvian. His most recent collection The Last Thing: New and Selected Poems was winner of the William Carlos Williams Book Award from the Poetry Society of America.
Rosal currently serves as Campus Co-Director of the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice at Rutgers-Camden where he is also a Professor of English. He has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulbright Research Scholar program. and the New Jersey State Council for the Arts.