Charles Olson Lecture.
The Charles Olson Lecture is an annual event held in collaboration with the Cape Ann Museum to honor and continue the legacy of poetic investigation that poet Olson practiced during his life, and importantly here in Gloucester.
In 2010, Beat icon Diane di Prima gave the first Charles Olson Lecture, held at the historic Gloucester Meetinghouse. Each fall since then, we’ve continued the tradition of inviting a leading thinker or writer to come to Gloucester to give a lecture on an aspect of Olson’s work or biography.
View Olson Lecture highlights below, or click on a lecturer’s name to the right to see the video on Youtube. And be sure to join our mailing list to be among the first to hear about our next Olson Lecture!
Olson Lecturers
2010: Diane di Prima
2011: Iain Sinclair (2, 3, 4)
2012: Anne Waldman
2013: Amiri Baraka
2014: Ralph Maud (canceled)
2015: Michael McClure
2016: Hettie Jones
2019: Stephan Fredman
2022: Sharon Thesen
2023 Charles Stein
Charles Olson.
Past Lectures.
View a sampling of past Olson Lectures here or view them all on our Youtube channel.
Anne Waldman and Ambrose Bye perform at the 3rd Annual Charles Olson Lecture at the Cape Ann Museum.
Amiri Baraka gives the 4th Annual Charles Olson Lecture at the Cape Ann Museum.