Chase Twichell, a poet whose work is heavily influenced by her years as a student of Zen Buddhism, will read from her work on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m., in the Fillius Events Barn. The reading is free and open to the public.
Twichell is originally from Connecticut, but also spent part of her childhood in the Adirondack Mountains. She is heavily influenced by her time at the Zen Mountain Monastery, where she was a student of Zen Buddhist roshi John Daido Loori. Her works have been published in periodicals such as The New Yorker, The Nation and The Yale Review, and her books of poetry have earned critical acclaim. Her most recent book, Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been, earned her the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award in 2011, considered one of the most prestigious awards for which an American poet is eligible. She has also served as a judge for poetry, including with the Wesleyan University Press and the University of Massachusetts Press.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Trinity College, and her Master of Fine Arts in poetry from the Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa. Twichell has taught at the University of Alabama and at Princeton University and at other institutions including Smith College, New York University and the University of Arizona. Beginning in January 2017, Twichell will join the faculty at Warren Wilson College’s Master of Fine Arts program.
