Poet David Keplinger Shares Poems and Travel Stories

David Keplinger

On Thursday, April 10th the John Cabot University Institute for Creative Writing and Literary Translation welcomed David Keplinger for a poetry reading.

Keplinger is a Literature and Creative Writing professor at American University in Washington DC. He has been on sabbatical since January, traveling the world from Australia to South Africa while working on his new poetry collection. He is spending two weeks in Italy, arriving in Rome after several days in Naples.

Keplinger emphasized the importance of exploring new places, stressing that having an open mind is a key to great adventures.He read poems from each of his four published poetry collections, as well as two new poems that he has written while traveling. He also shared many travel stories, which are often the inspiration behind his work.

Keplinger’s achievements as a poet range from the 1999 T.S. Eliot Prize to a two-year Soros Foundation fellowship in the Czech Republic. He is also a published musician; in 2011 he produced By and By, an album of eleven songs based on the poetry of his great-great grandfather, a Civil War veteran.

After the reading Keplinger answered questions from a captive audience, followed by a short reception.

Learn more about studying Modern Languages and Literature at John Cabot University in Rome