Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass:
The Sesquicentennial Symposium

September 22-24, 2005

The College of New Jersey will host a three-day symposium celebrating the 150th anniversary of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, an event that coincides with the College's own sesquicentennial celebration. Featuring some of the nation's most prominent poets, scholars, and intellectuals, the symposium will attract teachers and scholars from around the region and will be open to the public.

All events on Thursday, September 22nd are free and open to the public.

Registration for Friday and Saturday events is required.  Advance Registration and meal purchases should be postmarked by September 9, 2005. After that, registration will be accepted at the door. Walk-in registrants are welcome. Space is available at all Symposium events except for the Teaching Roundtables.

The symposium will include a wide variety of activities and events to which the public is warmly invited:

• Scholarly panels on Whitman
• Poetry readings
• An Art Faculty Exhibition of works inspired by passages from Leaves of Grass
• A series of roundtable discussions focused on teaching Leaves of Grass in secondary school classrooms
• The Fred Hersch Ensemble performing Hersch's jazz composition Leaves of Grass
• Stephen Collins performing in "Unlaunched Voices"

All events -- except for the Fred Hersch concert -- are free to TCNJ students, faculty, and staff, and no registration is required.  The Fred Hersch concert requires tickets which can be purchased in advance or the day of the performance.

This program is made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment of the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment of the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.