Former director of the Unterberg Poetry Center David Yezzi, blogging at The Best American Poetry blog, attended Richard Wilbur’s reading here last week and wrote:

After a knockout selection of poems new and old, [Wilbur] capped the evening with a bit from his forthcoming translation of Corneille’s The Liar, which will be out in August in a volume that also includes his new translation of Le Cid. Dorante’s long speech from Act Two absolutely killed!

Wilbur was here on May 20 for two events; a discussion with Roger Rosenblatt, and later, for a reading of his poetry. Highlights from both are featured in the video clip above. For Richard Wilbur’s observation on the youth today, and how there is “less hopping of freights [trains], less everything outdoors...and more Twittering and all that,” you can skip to the 3:15 mark.

The Unterberg Poetry Center has had an acclaimed line-up of readings this past season, playing host to the Maurice Sendak Tribute and the PEN World Voices Festival, and having the likes of John Ashbery, Marilynne Robinson, Amitav Ghosh, Cynthia Ozick, Walter Mosley, Judy Blume, Toni Morrison, Junot Díaz and Jamaica Kincaid, just to name a few. Keep up with all events at the Unterberg Poetry Center online, via eNews and Facebook.