Poetry lovers take note: from January 8-9, Tel Aviv University will be hosting a conference on literature and the environment, entitled “Poetic Natures: The Environment, Literature and the Arts. ” Guests include US Poet Laureate Robert Hass, a National Book Award Winner and Una Chaudhuri, Professor of English, Drama and Performance Studies at New York University.

The conference is free and open to the public. The central topic of discussion will be environmental poetry in Israel and abroad.

Hass, an icon on the scene of American poetry, will deliver a lecture, participate in panel discussions and at the conclusion of the conference, give a reading of his poems in the appropriately idyllic setting of TAU’s Botanical Gardens.

While the concept of environmental poetry may at first glance seem  oh-so-trendy, we’d say that Wordsworth and Keats were onto this idea more than 200 years ago. It’s only appropriate that in a time that we’ve begun to fully appreciate our effect on the planet, that poetry that relates to nature should make a comeback.

For details, visit the Porter School of Environmental Studies.

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