[Purple-Blurb] Christian Bök on Thursday

[Nick Montfort]

   Christian Bök
   Thursday May 3
   6-120
   6pm


Purple Blurbers,

We're in the last week of the Purple Blurb series. We have an incredible 
poet in from Calgary to read on Thursday, and I hope you will be able to 
join us in 6-120 at 6pm -- that's on May 3.

  Christian Bök is the author of Crystallography (Coach House Press, 1994),
  a pataphysical encyclopedia nominated for the Gerald Lampert Memorial
  Award, and of Eunoia (Coach House Books, 2001), a bestselling work of
  experimental literature, which has gone on to win the Griffin Prize for
  Poetic Excellence. Bök has created artificial languages for two
  television shows: Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict and Peter
  Benchley’s Amazon. Bök has also earned many accolades for his virtuoso
  performances of sound poetry (particularly the Ursonate by Kurt
  Schwitters). His conceptual artworks (which include books built out of
  Rubik’s cubes and Lego bricks) have appeared at the Marianne Boesky
  Gallery in New York City as part of the exhibit Poetry Plastique. Bök is
  currently a Professor of English at the University of Calgary.

These past five years of the Purple Blurb series, I have been hoping that 
we would be able to bring Christian to MIT -- it's finally been possible, 
thanks to our organizer Amaranth Borsuk and to several sponsors, including 
the Mellon Foundation, the SHASS Dean's Office, the Visiting Artists 
program, and Writing and Humanistic Studies.

Christian and others will also be part of the Unbound symposium the next 
day:

  http://futurebook.mit.edu

Because of the symposium and other factors (such as having the reading on 
Thursday night) we will not make the usual trip to CBC after this reading. 
If you would like to join us for drinks, please come to the reading that 
Christian, Amaranth Borsuk, and I will be doing at the Lorem Ipsum 
bookstore (1299 Cambridge Street - Inman Square - Cambridge, MA) on 
*Saturday* May 5 at 7pm.

The May 3 event will feature opening readings by MIT undergraduates Alvin 
Mwijuka and Aimee Harrison. I hope to see you there.

  -Nick