Presentation set Dec. 10.
Former Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize recipient Richard Wilbur has been chosen as the 2013 recipient of the "Tell It Slant" award by the board of governors of the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst.
The presentation, free and open to the public, will be made at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 10, Dickinson's birthday, in Amherst College's Johnson Chapel, and features a reading and remarks by Wilbur.
"Richard Wilbur is widely recognized as the country's greatest living poet," said Jane Wald, the museum's executive director, in a release. "It's a joy and honor to present the 'Tell it Slant' award to one who has indeed perfected the art of telling truth in poetic form."
Wilbur, a graduate of Amherst College, is the second recipient of the award, which honors individuals whose life work reflects the creative spirit of Dickinson. The first was poet Kay Ryan.
The name of the award is taken from a well-known Dickinson poem:
"Tell all the Truth but tell it slant --
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise."
Dickinson scholar Christopher Benfey, an author and professor at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, will engage Wilbur in an informal on-stage interview.
Wilbur's other honors include the Frost Medal, two PEN translation awards, the National Medal of Arts, the National Translation Award and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
Wilbur is a 1942 graduate of Amherst, and has maintained strong ties with the school, according to the release. He taught as the John Woodruff Simpson lecturer in 2008, and read his poem "Altitudes," inspired by Emily Dickinson and her work, at the founding ceremony of the museum in 2003, and at President Biddy Martin's inauguration ceremony in 2011.
The college has the most comprehensive collection of his manuscripts and published works anywhere, a collection that began with his gift of a small group of manuscripts in the late 1960s.
An "Evening of Bliss," a fund-raiser party at the museum, follows the award presentation. Tickets for the museum fund-raiser are $100 per person, or $175 per couple; a portion is tax-deductible.
The event features pianist Estela Olevsky, and cellist Astrid Schween playing musical selections known to the Dickinsons.
Guests will have a behind-the-scenes tour of the restoration of Dickinson's bedroom. . To make a reservation, contact info@emilydickinsonmuseum.org or call (413) 542-5311.
For more information about the Tell It Slant Award, visit http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/2013tellitslant.
The Emily Dickinson Museum, comprising the Dickinson Homestead and The Evergreens, is devoted to the story and legacy of poet Emily Dickinson and her family. Both properties are owned by the Trustees of Amherst College. The Homestead was the birthplace and residence of the poet (1830-1886). The Evergreens was the 1856 home of the poet's brother and sister-in-law, Austin and Susan Dickinson.
The museum is open for guided tours and programs Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., through Dec. 29 (closed Nov. 27 & 28, Dec. 25).