Of the world’s great museums, the Louvre is the most encompassing, a sumptuous collection that includes not only some of the most celebrated works of art of all time, but fascinating, perplexing, splendid, and beautiful objects of all kinds, all housed in a building, itself monumental, that was once the seat of the kings of France. In the grand corridors and multiplying backrooms of the Louvre, the history of the world and the history of art and the history of how we look and think about art and its place in our lives challenge and delight us at every corner. Few other public spaces are at once so haunted and so alive.

On Wednesday, October 30, at 6pm, join NYRB editorial director Edwin Frank and author and Director of Contemporary Programmes at the Louvre Museum, Donatien Grau as they discuss At the Louvre: Poems by 100 Contemporary World Poets (NYRB), a hundred poems by a hundred of the world’s most vibrant poets, including Simon Armitage; Barbara Chase-Riboud; Hélène Dorion; Jon Fosse; Fanny Howe; Kenneth Goldsmith; Lisette Lombé; Tedi López Mills; Precious Okoyomon; Charles Pennequin; Blandine Rinkel; Yomi Şode; Krisztina Tóth; Jan Wagner; and Elizabeth Willis among others. They write about works from the museum’s collection.
They write about the museum and its history. They write what they see and feel, and together they take us on a tour of the museum and its galleries like no other, one that is an irresistible feast for the ear and mind and eye.

Edwin Frank and Donatien Grau will be joined on stage by poets Peter Gizzi, Sylvie Kandé, Dorothea Lasky, Jana Prikryl, Barry Schwabsky, and Cynthia Zarin who will read from their contribution.

The conversation will be in English. This event is free with RSVP. Click here for tickets.
Click here to purchase At The Louvre: Poems by 100 Contemporary World Poets (NYRB) with us.

This event is co-organized by American Friends of the Louvre and New York Review of Books.