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download audioback JOHN ULMSCHNEIDER | 20th Annual Levis Prize
Welcome & Introduction
[Eds. note: the audio version may contain extemporized material that is not reproduced in the text provided to us for publication.]
Good evening. My name is John Ulmschneider, and I am University Librarian for Virginia Commonwealth University. On behalf of the faculty, students, and staff of Virginia Commonwealth University, I extend to all of you our warmest welcome to this twentieth celebration of the Levis Reading Prize.
The Levis Prize is named in honor of the renowned poet Larry Levis, who taught here at VCU until his untimely passing in 1996. The prize pays tribute to the wide-ranging, uncompromising, and deeply moving poetry of Levis, his extraordinary mastery of craft, and the continued growth of his influence and recognition among writers and readers as one of America’s greatest poetic voices.
The Levis Prize is given each year to a poet whose first or second book is judged the very best of poetry books published during the previous calendar year. Each year we receive around 150 or more nominations. The selection of the winner is an intensive process that requires the talents and energies of readers from the MFA program at VCU, other readers from the extended VCU community, and even participants outside of the immediate VCU community who are deep readers of poetry. The winner is selected from among the finalists by a panel of judges from the MFA faculty at VCU, who are the driving force behind VCU’s recognition as one of the most distinguished writing programs in the nation.
It’s a rigorous process, and you can see why we’re so proud to have this year’s winner, Solmaz Sharif, with us tonight. I know we all look forward to hearing her read.
The VCU Libraries is proud to hold the papers of Larry Levis and personal effects from his life, including his iconic boots and leather jacket. We also are delighted to provide significant financial and logistical support each year. Right now we are preparing a new online exhibit of material from the Levis Collection that I hope we can debut soon. I’m confident it will provide some unique insights into how Levis developed his craft and illustrate the influence of friends and colleagues on his work.
I thought I’d show you just a tiny glimpse of the kinds of materials that we hope to make available later this spring.
[Slideshow of items from the Levis Collection.]
The Levis Collection is one of a number of important collections of papers and manuscripts from eminent regional and national poets that the VCU Libraries is building for the use of scholars, students, and particularly poets and those who study the craft of poetry. It’s a long process, and it requires funding that the state simply does not provide. You can help us develop the funding we need to assemble this preeminent collection of poets and poetry in Virginia.
And I am delighted to announce that we now have a new mechanism through which you can help build our literary collections: the new Endowment for Special Collections and Archives at VCU. This endowment will provide the financial resources we need to acquire rare and unique materials that document the work of poets, artists, and writers from throughout Virginia and the Southeast, as well as grow other areas of distinction for our collections in the arts.
I’m especially delighted to say that a generous anonymous donor has issued a $30,000 challenge to accelerate the start of our work on building this endowment. Our goal is to raise $30,000 for the new endowment by June 30, giving us a solid foundation of $60,000 in the new endowment upon which to build in the future.
I hope you will join us in meeting our $30,000 goal. The generous financial support of donors makes all the difference in what we can do for scholarship, our students, and our community. I am deeply grateful for all the support many of you have extended to our libraries.
The Levis Reading Prize itself is an example of how important the support of donors can be to creating a world-class university. The prize is made possible by sponsorship from the VCU Department of English, VCU Libraries and its donor community, the College of Humanities and Sciences, and not least from our friends from Barnes & Noble @ VCU Bookstore and the extended family of Larry Levis.
Opening our program tonight is Greg Donovan, Professor of English here at VCU. Greg is the senior editor of the esteemed literary journal Blackbird and published his latest book of poems, Torn From the Sun, in 2015. Greg was a close friend and colleague of Larry Levis, and each year he shares with us some of his experiences with Larry to help us examine, reflect on, and remember the life and work of Larry and to invoke Larry’s spirit into this occasion we have set aside to honor his memory.
Ladies and gentlemen, Greg Donovan. 
John Ulmschneider is a professor and the university librarian at Virginia Commonwealth University.