The Pennington School welcomed poet, essayist, National Book Award winner, and bestselling author Mark Doty as a guest speaker on Tuesday, January 31, as part of the School’s 2016-17 Stephen Crane Lecture Series.

Mr. Doty read a selection of his poems and discussed his writing process with students and faculty. He noted that he often uses the world around him as a catalyst for his creative process. After his presentation, he held a Master Class and working lunch in the Silva Gallery of Art with 40 students grades 8-12.  

The author of three memoirs as well as a book about craft and criticism, Mr. Doty shows special interest in the visual arts, as is evident in his poems and also in his book-length essay, Still Life with Oysters and Lemon (2001). He is the author of nine books of poetry, most recently Deep Lane (W.W. Norton, 2015). A Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University, Mr. Doty also teaches in NYU’s low-residency MFA program in Paris. He is currently at work on a memoir that centers on his poetic relationship with Walt Whitman, entitled What Is the Grass.