Poetry Reading and Workshop with

Robert Bly

in Santa Barbara, California

Friday, June 20, 7:00-9:00 PM
Saturday, June 21, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM

$360 General Admission
$310 Special Admission
(Full-Time Students, Pacifica Alumni, and Seniors)
$285 Active Pacifica Students
(Fees include Friday dinner; Saturday breakfast,
lunch, and dinner)

Registration Form

Stealing Sugar from the Castle
Moving Toward Poems of Ecstasy
Join us for an evening of poetry with award-winning poet, Robert Bly. Beginning with Hafez, Rumi, Neruda, and Tranströmer, Bly will share selected poems from his recent work, including Eating the Honey of Words, The Night Abraham Called to the Stars, and My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy.

The White Bear King Valemon
There once was a king who had three daughters, and the youngest, out in the woods one day, glimpsed a beautiful white bear who was lying on his back playing with a golden wreath. It turns out that this being is called the White Bear King Valemon. Now we have to ask ourselves, how old were we when something like this happened? And if we do remember that, and make a decision to marry the White Bear King Valemon, what do our parents think of that? In our story there are two older sisters who demand to be married first to the White Bear King Valemon. We remember those two! When each of your “two sisters” in turn marries the White Bear King, it doesn’t work out well. Do you remember that? And when finally you do join the White Bear King in his lovely castle, how long does that last? What do you have to go through? It turns out the “Ugly One With Tusks” wants the Bear King for Herself. This is a good story. In this workshop, Robert Bly will tell the story with the help of poems by Dickenson, Yeats, Rilke, and a few others.

Robert Bly is an award-winning poet, translator and editor. He started the influential literary magazine for poetry translation in the United States called successively The Fifties and The Sixties and The Seventies, which introduced many essential poets to the writers of his generation. Among the many world poets Bly has translated are Pablo Neruda, Rainer Mariae Rilke, Tomas Tranströmer, and Rolf Jacobsen. His most recent translations include The Lightning Should Have Fallen on Ghalib: Selected Poems of Ghalib (with Sunil Dutta), The Half-Finished Heaven: Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer, and The Roads Have Come to an End Now: Selected and Last Poems of Rolf Jacobsen (with Roger Greenwald and Robert Hedin). His most recent book of poems are The Night Abraham Called to the Stars and My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy. His selected translations, The Winged Energy of Delight, was published by HarperCollins in 2004. This spring, HarperCollins released his translations of Hafez (with Leonard Lewisohn), Angels Knocking at the Tavern Door.

General Information

A limited number of rooms are available for participants at special rates at the following locations.

Pacifica’s Ladera Lane Campus, 801 Ladera Lane, Santa Barbara
$80 per night single occupancy
$115 per night couple occupancy
$125 per night double occupancy
plus 10% occupancy tax
                                      
Accommodations are simple, dormitory-style rooms with shared bath and shower. Single (twin or double bed), double (two twin beds), and couple (one double bed) rooms are available. Reservations for rooms must be made through Pacifica’s Public Program’s office. Please indicate your preference for accommodations at the Ladera Campus on the registration form.

Other accommodations in the Santa Barbara area may be arranged by calling one of these services: Coastal Escapes at 800.292.2222 or Hot Spot Accommodations at 800.793.7666. Note, Pacifica shuttles do not provide service for public programs.

Reservations and Cancellations
Space is limited, register early!
Space permitting, registrations for the Friday evening poetry reading may be available.

To register, please complete the form and return it to Pacifica Graduate Institute, Public Programs, 249 Lambert Road, Carpinteria, CA 93013; fax to 805.565.5796; e-mail to publicprograms@pacifica.edu; or call 805.969.3626, ext. 103 or register online at www.pacifica.edu.

A limited number of partial scholarships are available to those who find it prohibitive to pay the full cost of the workshop. To apply, send a letter of request with your registration and payment. Please be specific regarding your financial circumstances. If accepted, you will be contacted to approve processing payment.   

To obtain a refund on your registration fee, send a written cancellation request postmarked no later than May 20. Tuition less a $50 processing fee will be refunded. No exceptions will be made.

Continuing Education Credit
8.5 hours of continuing education credit are available for RNs through the California Board of Registered Nurses (provider #CEP 7177), for MFTs and LCSWs (provider #PCE 2278) through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, and for National Certified Counselors (provider #5436), through the National Board of Certified Counselors. Pacifica adheres to NBCC continuing education guidelines. A $15 processing fee will be charged for each certificate requested.