The Lewis Turco Collection

Lewis Turco, 1968
Lewis Turco, 1968.

On April 14, 1962 poet and English instructor Lewis Turco announced the founding of the Poetry Center at Fenn College. As the director of the center, over the next two years Turco would propel the program forward to achieve great success and a lasting legacy in the Cleveland community.

In those two years, the poetry center would attract such prominent and legendary authors such as William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, Kenyon College critic John Crowe Ransom, and Paris Review poetry editor X. J. Kennedy.

Under Turco’s direction, the center demonstrated its dedication to sponsoring and promoting local Cleveland literature programs as well as playing host to numerous Ohio programs in writing and literature, such as the Ohio Versewriters' Conference...

Read more about Lewis Turco and the founding of the Poetry Center.

Features:

  • Cleveland State University Holdings:
    • Lewis Turco Archive of American Poetry
      This collection, donated by Lewis Turco, includes various works by American poets. All items in the series are available at the Cleveland State University Library.
    • Poetry Center Scrapbook
      This scrapbook of Fenn College's Cleveland Poetry Center, later called Cleveland State University Poetry Center when Fenn College was renamed, details the founding of the center and consists of various programs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence written by Turco.
    • Bordello
      A portfolio consisting of a series of twenty-three "poemprints": prints crafted by George O'Connell to illustrate the poems of Lewis Turco.
    • The Lewis Turco Collection finding aid
      This finding aid, compiled partly from descriptive information provided for a portion of Turco's donations to Cleveland State University, covers everything from Turco's correspondence to faculty files and partial bibliographies during Turco's tenure at the University of New York at Oswego.
    • The Lewis Turco Audio Collection
      A series of audio recordings donated to Cleveland State University, includes recordings by prominent poets as well as recordings made at the Fenn College Poetry Center during its first years. Selected tapes from the collection are being digitized by library staff and will be made available online.
  • Site Purpose & Acknowledgements
English instructor Lewis Turco discusses writing poetry with guest poets
English instructor Lewis Turco discusses writing poetry with guest poets Loring Williams and James Weill during Mr. Turco's creative writing class, 1961.

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