Celebrated young poet opens series

Award-winning poet Anthony Butts, whose debut collection, "Fifth Season," was published in 1997, will read from his work at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, to open the 1998-99 Reading Series sponsored by the International Writers Center in Arts and Sciences. The reading will take place at the West Campus Conference Center.

The seventh of nine children, Butts grew up in a southwest neighborhood of Detroit. Afflicted by child- hood blindness, he was educated in classes for visually and mentally impaired students before entering Detroit Senior Renaissance High School.

Butts, now pursuing a doctorate in poetry and critical theory at the University of Missouri-Columbia, chronicles his physical and intellectual coming of age in "Fifth Season." The volume is divided into three poem cycles: "Detroit, City of Straits," which centers on his impoverished childhood; "Writing the Body," which follows him through early experiences with violence and burgeoning sexuality; and "The Imaginary Gods," in which the increasingly confident author muses on his own journey while pondering the classical myth of Orpheus, who attempts to rescue his wife Eurydice from Hades.

"At first, it was very difficult to put classical allusions in my poems because I was so intent on finding my own way, of creating new forms," Butts said. "I was very distrustful of other people's systems as a child. I would learn things, but not by rote -- I'd want to find my own way of doing them."

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Liberating the book within you

Admit it: Somewhere deep down, you've got a book inside you struggling to get out. Well, you're in luck because this fall the School of Art is sponsoring a series of Saturday workshops designed to help you realize that potential volume. Over the next three months, the Fine Arts Institute -- the School of Art's continuing education program -- will offer more than a dozen workshops to help demystify that elusive animal, the creative process, with particular emphasis on the art of bookmaking.

"These workshops will offer art-making opportunities for everyone," said Linda Ardakani, assistant director of the Fine Arts Institute. "Students will learn about everything from developing content to illustrating stories, making paper, designing book pages and actually binding the book."

"They'll also have a lot of fun," Ardakani added.

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'Liederabend' concert set for Oct. 11

The departments of Music and Germanic Languages and Literatures, both in Arts and Sciences, will present their annual "Liederabend" at 4 p.m. Oct. 11. The concert is free and open to the public and will take place in Steinberg Auditorium.

Literally translated as "evening of song," "Liederabend" is a German term referring to a recital given by a singer and pianist, particularly of works by 19th-century composers such as Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Hugo Wolf.

The Oct. 11 performance will feature Maryse Carlin, instructor in harpsichord and piano in the music department, and two guest artists, the husband-and-wife team of Joyce Andrews, soprano, and Frank Hoffmeister, tenor, both associate professors of voice at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosk.

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