January 29, 2020
Sean Hill read from his poetry collections and a personal essay as a guest author in the “Dances with Words” series at Montana Western on Jan. 23, 2020.
“Dances with Words” is produced by English Professor Alan Weltzien. The series, free and open to the public, provides the community with a unique opportunity to listen to writers reading their own works, including Montana Western student writers.
Sean Hill is the author of two poetry collections, Dangerous Goods (Milkweed Editions, 2014) and Blood Ties & Brown Liquor (UGA Press, 2008). He has received numerous awards including fellowships from the Cave Canem Foundation, Stanford University and the National Endowment for the Arts.
During the performance, Hill told the audience that the initial inspiration for his poetry came from research of the history of Milledgeville, Georgia, his hometown.
Hill’s poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Callaloo, Harvard Review, New England Review, Oxford American, Poetry, Terrain.org, Tin House, and numerous other journals, and in over a dozen anthologies including Black Nature and Villanelles.
He has lived in eight states, visited all 50, and recently moved to Helena, Mont. He shared a poem about the openness of Montana, titled “Vacation,” which was about seeing Helena for the first time. When asked about how he enjoys living in Montana, Hill responded with a smile. “Can I just stay here? Yeah, I think I’ll just stay here.”
Hill directs the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference at Bemidji State University. To learn more about Sean Hill, please visit his website: www.seanhillpoetry.com.
Featured authors’ books at “Dances with Words” are made available for purchase by The Bookstore and Deb Sporich.
For more information about the series, please contact Alan Weltzien by email at [email protected] or call 406-683-7431.
