Former U.S. Poet Laureate and recent recipient of the National Medal of the Arts, Donald Hall who was born and raised in Hamden will be honored by his hometown in Thornton Wilder Hall at the Miller Memorial Library Complex.
The event will mark Mr. Hall's 83rd birthday and the publication of his latest book of poetry, The Back Chamber.
Grandson of Henry Hall, one of the founders of Hamden's Brock-Hall Dairy, Mr. Hall grew up in the Whitneyville neighborhood of Hamden during the 1930s and 40s, attended Spring Glen Grammar School and Hamden High before going on to Philips Exeter Academy, Harvard and Oxford Universities. His youth in Hamden has figured prominently in several of his poems as well as his most recent memoir, Unpacking the Boxes. The winner of numerous prizes for his poetry and other contributions to literature, he has lived on his maternal grandparents' farm in rural New Hampshire since 1975.
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Mr. Hall plans to travel to Hamden for this event which will include presentations by Mayor Scott Jackson, Hamden Historian, Eric Lehman and The Connecticut Poetry Society.
The program is free and open to the public.
