Poet-in-Residence Releases 51st and 52nd Publications

Most of Jonas Zdanys’ volumes have been published in English and Lithuanian

Jonas Zdanys, Sacred Heart University’s poet-in-residence, has published his 51st and 52nd books. Of his previous publications, 25 are poetry collections printed in English and Lithuanian. Eighteen are books of poetry in English, five are in Lithuanian and two are bilingual volumes.

Zdanys is considered to be the leading translator of modern Lithuanian literature into English, with 23 books. In addition, four of his books are anthologies he assembled and edited himself. “My two latest publications reflect the literary work in which I have been engaged for more than a half century as a poet and as a literary translator,” said Zdanys.

The poetry in his collection of works, Early Poems: 1966-1969, was written between the summer of 1966 and the winter of 1969, Zdanys’ transition years from high school to his freshman year of college. The book is a follow-up and companion volume to his previous book, The Angled Road: Collected Poems 1970-2020. The books’ description on Amazon says, “They mark the beginning of a number of continuing, thematic commitments and explorations that have found differing voices, structures and expressions over the past 50 years in his acclaimed literary work.”

Zdanys’ most current book, Invocations of Light, comprises translations—from Lithuanian to English—of religious and devotional poems written by Lutheran pastor Valdas Aušra, who immigrated to the United States from Lithuania to serve as pastor of a Lutheran church in Chicago. “Aušra provides us with clear guidance to opportunities for the transcendence made possible through kinship with God. At times wry, sometimes pious, often devotional in their expressions, these are poems of hope and of welcome affirmation of what it means to be most fully human and committed to the important place of the divine in our lives,” Amazon states. 

Zdanys recently judged the winners of the Connecticut Poetry Award 2020 contest. The submission period for this contest was between April 1 and May 31, and there were cash prizes for first-, second- and third-place winners. It was run by the Connecticut Poetry Society, which was founded Oct. 4, 1974, at the Hartford Public Library and is an affiliate of the National Federation of Poetry Societies, a nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion and consumption of poetry. The contest winners and Zdanys’ respective commentary can be found here.