Inside the Kunitz Family

Join us for a probing discussion of how life relates to art and the challenges of writing a biography. We’ll focus on one of Worcester’s best-known poets, Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006), who summed up the family dynamic that shaped his identity in the opening lines of “The Portrait”: “My mother never forgave my father/ for killing himself,/ especially at such an awkward time.” Kunitz’s mother, who was then pregnant with him, suppressed all traces of his father’s existence — leading to his lifelong yearning for his other parent and his estrangement from Worcester itself, until a friendship late in life helped him to heal.

James Dempsey, a journalist, novelist, poet, and author of The Tortured Life of Schofield Thayer, will share his findings from his research on a biography of Kunitz. Judith Ferrara, a painter, poet, and scholar, recently published A Feast of Losses: Yetta Dine and Her Son, the Poet Stanley Kunitz.

This event, organized by Mapping Worcester in Poetry, is part of the new Poem Next Door exhibit at the Museum of Worcester — which features Kunitz — as well as a celebration of the poet’s birthday that culminates in awarding the annual Stanley Kunitz Medal on July 31. The exhibit will be open for viewing at 5:30 pm before the program.

This event is FREE as part of Museum of Worcester’s 150th anniversary. To attend, please register here.