Join UWEC faculty, staff, students, and community members for the 18th annual International Poetry Reading taking place in the Ojibwe Ballroom, located in UW Eau Claire Davies Student Center, on Wednesday, April 10th at 6 pm.
The International Poetry Reading was created 18 years ago by UWEC professors Dr. Audrey Fessler and Dr. Jeff Vahlbusch as a collaboration between the English and Languages departments. After running the event for 10 years, they moved on to different colleges, but the event did not leave with them.
For the past 8 years, UW Eau Claire faculty and staff have been running the event, most notably Dr. Kaishan Kong (UW-Eau Claire Professor of Languages), Josh Bauer (Digital Accessibility Coordinator), and Megan Lim (current student at UW-Eau Claire and event coordinator).
When asked about the impetus of the event, Josh Bauer answered that the event’s founders, Drs. Jeff Vahlbusch and Audrey Fessler “wanted to have an appreciation of culture and poetry, through the reading of poems in languages other than English…”
The goal for each year is to host multiple languages and dialects under one roof to share the beauty and diversity of languages in a poetry-centered event. Over the years, the International Poetry Reading has regularly hosted 25-30 different readers representing 25-30 unique languages/dialects. Some examples are Greek, Latin, French, German, Chinese, Korean, Morse Code, Tech Code, and many others. This year, the International Poetry Reading will host an all-time high of 30-35 languages/dialects.
“Without this event,” Dr. Kaishan Kong shares, “I could probably name only 10 other languages in the world…” Yet because of the event, Dr. Kong and all those who attend are treated to a world’s worth of language right in their own backyards.
This event and its goal of sharing culture is made possible by the participation of students, staff, and community members. Over the years, the participation of students and community members has been evenly split, but, excitingly, this year, the participation of foreign exchange students has grown.
Megan Lim went on to describe how “people will think like, ‘Oh, it’s only college students who probably do this, or like only teenagers, because it's like a university event.’ But we actually had a lot more community members who were like, ‘No, I want to do it. I want to be a part of this. And it was really cool…”
Everyone is welcome to participate—faculty, staff, community members, and even families. The coordinators recalled a time when a mother, who is an immigrant, took her five-year-old daughter on stage, and the daughter read a poem in their first language.
It’s moments like this, that bring all cultures, languages, and ages together under one roof to share with one another. Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity and join us on Wednesday April 10th, at 6 pm in the Ojibwe Ballroom and learn, acknowledge, and appreciate the multiple languages and cultures within the Eau Claire community.
If you’re unable to join in person, click here to join virtually.
If you’re interested in learning more about the creation of the International Poetry Reading, click this link to read a 2016 Guild interview with Dr. Fessler and Dr. Vahlbusch.