Longtime Humboldt County poet David Holper — beloved College of the Redwoods English professor, the inaugural poet laureate of the City of Eureka — has a new book out. It’s called Language Lessons: A Linguistic Hejira, and it’s (in part) a meditation on words from other languages that are not easy to translate into English.
To mark the occasion, Holper recently joined KHUM-FM DJ Midge Martin for a conversation about the book, his work as poet laureate and just, generally, the practice of poetry in this day and age. Check it out here:
There’ll be a book launch party at a private residence this Saturday. See the following note from Holper:
Inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Eureka David Holper will be reading from his latest book of poem Language Lessons: A Linguistic Hejira. The reading will be on Saturday, September 30th, 1-2 pm at 4007 Cedar Street in Eureka. As the reading will be outside, bring a lawn chair and dress for being outside.
Using 109 untranslatable words from languages (mostly) other than English, David Holper takes the reader on a spiritual journey through life, love, travel, food, and everything else. Each of the poems provides the untranslatable word, its language and definition, a poem that illuminates the word, and an illustration. Paperback copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing by the author.
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