November 5, 2003

Hoping to promote unity among people of all races, religions and nationalities through the universal language of poetry, SFSU will host one of its largest gatherings of prominent Bay Area poets from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday.

More than 15 members of Poets for Peace will gather for a free poetry reading at SFSU's Poetry Center and read from "Against Certainty," the first anthology in a national series of Poets for Peace Chapbooks.

Poets for Peace is an international community of writers dedicated to fostering world peace through the healing power of poetry. Originally created in response to the Balkans wars in the 1990s, the group has hosted more than 100 events across the globe in support of human rights and relief organizations. In each event, poets give free readings and ask audiences for donations to support organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, Survivors International and the Red Cross.

Featured poets include Stephen Ajay, David Alpaugh, Chana Bloch, Dan Bellm, Lucille Lang Day, Sandra M. Gilbert, Jane Hirshfield, Lynne Knight, Dawn McGuire, Ruth L. Schwartz, Susan Terris, Andrena Zawinski and Toni Mirosevich, an associate professor at SFSU's Creative Writing Department. These award-winning Bay Area poets are all active members of Poets for Peace.

Proceeds from the sale of the "Against Certainty" chapbook, which costs $12, will be donated to Survivors International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing essential psychological and medical services to survivors of torture who have fled from countries around the world to start a new life in the Bay Area.

The poetry reading runs from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Poetry Center in the Humanities building, room 512. Admission is free. For more information on the "Against Certainty" chapbook, see the Chapiteau Press Web site. For details on the event, contact Mirosevich at tonimiro@sfsu.edu or (415) 338-7439.

-- Matt Itelson with Public Affairs Student Writer Audrey Tang

1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132    (415) 338-1111
Last modified November 5, 2003, by the Office of Public Affairs