In Train Music: Writing/Pictures (Omnidawn), poet C.S. Giscombe and visual artist Judith Margolis take a train across the United States, creating and conversing along the way. This “tour de force of diasporic poetics” (Adeena Karasik) offers a cross-genre combination of text and image that paints a moving portrait of a country wracked by racial and gendered conflicts, of a long-time friendship that sustains, and of “the survival of two artists selected by two histories for extermination” (Tyrone Williams). Join us as the possessors of these insightful voices bring words and pictures to this exclusive virtual event!
Artist Judith Margolis explores tensions between social consciousness, feminism, and religious traditions. She is the author of Life Support: Invitation to Prayer and Countdown to Perfection-Meditationson the Sefirot, and her book art is included in the collections of the New York Public Library, Yale University, University of Washington, UCLA, and the Jaffe Book Arts Center. Margolis was born and grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, USA and now lives in Jerusalem, Israel. She does collage because bringing together unrelated images to form something new is how humans dream.
C. S. Giscombe’s poetry books include Prairie Style, Giscome Road, and Here; his book of linked essays (concerning Canada, race, and family) is Into and Out of Dislocation. His recognitions include the 2010 Stephen Henderson Award, an American Book Award (for Prairie Style) and the Carl Sandburg Prize (for Giscome Road). Ohio Railroads (a poem in essay form) was published in 2014 and Border Towns (essays on poetry, color, nature, television, etc.) appeared in 2016. An avid long-distance cyclist, he teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.