Carcanet’s Editorial Director Michael Schmidt will host an evening of poetry in New York tonight celebrating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage down the river that now bears his name.

The event, A Poetic Celebration of the Hudson River, will take place at the newly constructed Battery Park City Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan, which offers sweeping views of the Hudson River. Poets reading at the event include Pulitzer Prize winners John Ashbery, Paul Muldoon, Yusef Komunyakaa and Jorie Graham, John Koethe, Eavan Boland and Toon Tellegen, who have all written poems especially for the occasion.

The Hudson River has played an integral part in American history, from the American Revolution to the present. Since its discovery, American authors from James Fenimore Cooper to Walt Whitman and William Cullen Bryant have sung its praises. An entire movement in American art, the Hudson River School, was devoted to celebrating the unique pastoral landscape carved by the river. A Poetic Celebration of the Hudson River recognises importance and majesty of the river, both past and present.



Carcanet competition!


To mark the Hudson anniversary, Carcanet and PN Review have published a commemorative pamphlet including all the poems written for the occasion, including those by Carcanet authors John Ashbery, Jorie Graham and Eavan Boland. We have 10 copies of A Poetic Celebration of the Hudson River to give away to e-letter readers who can answer the following question:

Which famous ferry makes an important appearance in Walt Whitman’s book-length poem 'Leaves of Grass'?

The first 10 readers to reply to eleanor@carcanet.co.uk with the correct answer will receive a free copy of the pamphlet.