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Hear James Ragan's Poetry at ORU
Acclaimed poet Dr. James Ragan will hold a poetry reading at Oral Roberts University
For 25 years, Ragan served as the director of the University of Southern California's Professional Writing Program and is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Oklahoma.
Ragan has read his poetry for five heads of state including Mikhail Gorbachev and Czech President Vaclav Havel, and has been honored here and abroad as an ambassador of poetry. In 1985 he was one of three Americans, including Robert Bly and Bob Dylan, invited to perform at the First International Poetry Festival in Moscow. Ragan has performed his poetry all over the world including Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Bangkok, London, Paris, Athens, Stockholm, Sofia, Warsaw, Moscow, Prague, and Sao Paulo; and was invited in October 2008 to give the keynote address at the World Literature Today Conference in Beijing, China.
Ragan has also written for the stage and film, and worked in various production capacities on movies including The Longest Yard, The Border, Matilda, and the Academy Award winner, The Deer Hunter. His most recent films are The Last Story of the Century (2009), based on the siege of Sarajevo, and The Shoe (2009).
Ragan earned his BA at Saint Vincent College and his Ph.D. (1971) in English from Ohio University. He has received honorary Ph.D's from London's Richmond University and
St.Vincent College.
The reading will be in room 5112 on the fifth floor of the Graduate Center on the ORU campus. Admission is free. For further information please contact the ORU English department at 918-495-6765.
