Thursday 6 December 2012, 6-7.30pm followed by a reception
Venue: The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH

Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004), the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980, was a tireless advocate of Eastern European poetry and did much to alert western audiences to its richness. This event aims to heighten the appreciation of Milosz's legacy, focusing on the impact of his poetry, translations and critical writings on British, Irish and American poetry, exploring, amongst other things, his influence on Seamus Heaney and responses to Philip Larkin, and his attitude to religious faith.

At a juncture when the concept of 'value' is reckoned primarily in economic terms, it seems timely to consider how poetry promotes dialogue within and between cultures, and so promotes other, richer ways of seeing.

Chair:
George Szirtes was born in Budapest, and came to Britain as a refugee in 1956. A distinguished poet, translator and broadcaster, he has received such major awards as the Faber Memorial, Cholmondeley and T.S. Eliot Prizes. His New and Collected Poems (2009) was Independent Poetry Book of the Year. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

Speakers:
Jerzy Jarniewicz is one of Poland's most highly-regarded poets, translators, and literary scholars. He has published nine volumes of verse since the early 1990s, including Niepoznaki (2000), Oranżada (2005), and Makijaż (2009), as well as studies of Larkin's and Heaney's poetry. He is a Professor of English at the Universities of Lodz and Warsaw.
Download Jerzy Jarniewicz's presentation slides

Michael Parker is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Central Lancashire, whose books include Seamus Heaney: The Making of the Poet (1993), Northern Irish Literature 1956-2006 (2007) and Irish Literature Since 1990 (2009). An essay on Miłosz and Heaney will appear next year in Textual Practice.
Download Michael Parker's presentation slides

Stephen Regan is a Professor of English Literature at the Department of English Studies at Durham University. His publications include essays on W.B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney and Robert Frost, two books on Philip Larkin, and a forthcoming critical study of the sonnet from Shakespeare to Heaney. He is the editor of Irish Writing: An Anthology of Irish Literature in English 1789-1939 in the Oxford World's Classics series.

Cynthia L Haven is an award-winning American literary journalist, whose work has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, World Literature Today, Quarterly Conversation, The Kenyon Review, The Georgia Review and the Poetry Foundation. Her books include An Invisible Rope: Portraits of  Czesław Miłosz (2011), Czesław Miłosz: Conversations (2006), Joseph Brodsky: Conversations (2003), and Peter Dale in Conversation with Cynthia Haven (2005). She was a 2008 Milena Jesenská Fellow in Kraków with Vienna's Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, and is currently a visiting scholar at Stanford University. Cynthia blogs at The Book Haven.

His Master's Voice:  Creslaw Milosz And His Dialogue With British, Irish And American Poetry

The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. We mobilise these disciplines to understand the world and shape a brighter future. ​

From artificial intelligence to climate change, from building prosperity to improving well-being – today’s complex challenges can only be resolved by deepening our insight into people, cultures and societies.​

We invest in researchers and projects across the UK and overseas, ​engage the public with fresh thinking and debates, and bring together scholars, government, business and civil society to influence policy for ​the benefit of everyone. ​