Award-Winning Poet/Writer Next Forum Speaker
Nov. 15, 2001
University Park, Pa. – John Balaban, poet-in-residence and professor of English, North Carolina State University, will deliver the Penn State Forum lecture at noon on Monday, Nov. 26, at the Nittany Lion Inn. The topic of his presentation is “Venturing Out: Excursions into Vietnamese Literary Culture.”

Balaban, an American poet and translator, was named the 2001-2004 National Artist of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. The award is presented every three years to a person who has excelled in the broad realm of the arts--creative, graphic, performing, visual, and/or fine arts.

A conscientious objector in 1967, Balaban did alternative service in Vietnam where he learned the language and taught linguistics.  After being wounded by shrapnel and sent home, he returned to Vietnam to transport war-injured children out of the country.

He has translated two volumes of Vietnamese literature into English and is the author of ten books of poetry and prose, including four volumes, which together have won the Academy of American Poets’ Lamont prize, a National Poetry Series Selection, and two nominations for the National Book Award. He received his bachelor’s degree in English from Penn State and a master’s degree in English literature from Harvard University.

The Penn State Forum is a lunchtime speaker series offered by the Faculty Staff Club and is sponsored in part by the Penn State Bookstore. It is open to the public. Tickets are $10 for members and $12 for non-members and include lunch. Reservations can be made by mail or by stopping by the Faculty Staff Club office at 103 HUB-Robeson Center. Tickets will be on sale at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. followed by the speech and a question-and-answer session at noon. For more information call (814) 865-7590.

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Contact:  Amy Neil, Department of Public Information, at (814) 865-7517 or e-mail aen4@psu.edu.