archive
Philip Metres: Seeking Refuge, Writing Home
Author Philip Metres and his new book, Fugitive/Refuge.
In his recent Fugitive/Refuge, Philip Metres follows the journey of his refugee ancestors—from Lebanon to Mexico to the United States—in a vivid exploration of what it means to long for home. A book-length qasida, the collection draws on both ancient traditions and innovative forms—odes and arabics, sonnets and cut-ups, prayers and documentary voicings—in order to confront the perils of our age: forced migration, climate change, and toxic nationalism.
Event Video
Video recording of Seeking Refuge, Writing Home with Philip Metres is available on the Hank Center YouTube channel:
Event Details
September 24, 7–8:30PM CDT
McCormick Lounge, Coffey Hall
Loyola University Chicago, Lake Shore Campus
Attendance is free and all are welcome.
About Philip Metres
Philip Metres is the author of twelve books, including Fugitive/Refuge (2024), Ochre & Rust: New Selected Poems of Sergey Gandlevsky (2023), Shrapnel Maps (2020), The Sound of Listening: Poetry as Refuge and Resistance (2018), Pictures at an Exhibition (2016), Sand Opera (2015), and I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky (2015). His work has garnered the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lannan Fellowship, two NEAs, seven Ohio Arts Council Grants, the Hunt Prize, the Adrienne Rich Award, three Arab American Book Awards, the Watson Fellowship, the Lyric Poetry Prize, and the Cleveland Arts Prize. Metres has been called “one of the essential poets of our time,” whose work is “beautiful, powerful, magnetically original.” His poems have been translated into Arabic, Farsi, Polish, Russian, and Tamil. He is professor of English and director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University, and lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
