International Poetry Forum Presents: Kimiko Hahn

City of Asylum welcomes Kimiko Hahn winner of the 2023 Ruth Lilly Prize for a reading and discussion of the influence haiku poet Matsuo Bashō has had on her work particularly The Narrow Road to the Interior. Matsuo Bashō is recognized as the greatest master of Haiku legitimizing the art form and paving the way for poets like Kimiko Hahn to carry on and expand upon his legacy. 

This reading is part of the continued relaunch of the International Poetry Forum a nonprofit organization that originally hosted over 800 poets actors and artists in Pittsburgh from 1966 to 2009. The 501(c)(3) was founded by and directed for 43 years by Samuel Hazo inaugural state poet of Pennsylvania. 

Alumni of the International Poetry Forum represent more than 50 countries and include nine Nobel laureates 14 Academy Award recipients 28 U.S. Poets Laureate 39 National Book Award winners and 47 Pulitzer Prize winners—as well as a Princess a Queen and a Steelers Super Bowl MVP.

Past participants include figures such as Seamus Heaney Gwendolyn Brooks W.H. Auden Jorge Luis Borges Elizabeth Bishop Derek Walcott Tennessee Williams Kurt Vonnegut Chinua Achebe Mary Oliver Lucille Clifton Anthony Hopkins Danny Glover Grace Kelly James Earl Jones and Queen Noor of Jordan. Complete information on past performers and the organization’s history is available on the International Poetry Forum’s website and Instagram.

COA is co-presenting this event with the International Poetry Forum Carlow University’s MFA in Creative Writing Program and Carlow University’s Madwomen in the Attic Writing Workshops.

You can purchase your own copy of Kimiko’s book The Narrow Road to the Interior and other works at City of Asylum Bookstore.

Host or Publisher City of Asylum Pittsburgh