|
|
|
|
The Banta
Award 1984
The 1984 Banta Award BOOK With fine imagery and considerable humor, Rath writes of life and nature. She looks back sentimentally on her small-town Wisconsin childhood, a time both comic and haunting. However, it is her poems of love that are most pervasive. There are pictures of the tender moonlight of first love, some of the bittersweet dawn of forbidden love, and others in the biting glare of love gone askew. Members of the Literary Awards Committee found the Wilderness poetry to be very moving, endowed with great humanity. They recognized the deep and painful feelings conveyed. The Committee admired Rath's superb structure and articulation as that of "Prison Visit" in these lines: "unafraid but not because I was brave/ only because love/ is a very strong force/ and can bend bars." Her imagery shines as she writes in the title poem of her father: "I remember him sitting by my bed in twilight/ to sing 'John Brown Had a Little Indian.'/ Every night. I could reach out, always,/ and know he was there." Critiquing her volume in Wisconsin Academy Review, Art Hove says, "Rath approaches the familiar with a distinctly individual and fresh perspective. She accomplishes this through an economy and tightness of language, consistent and effective diction, a strong personal voice and sharp images..." He commends her for articulating what "a fully sentient woman means in our present world." The Milwaukee Journal's poetry reviewer, Harold Grutzmacher, writes: "...tender and jarring by turns, a wise and satisfying collection." The Feminist Connection reports: "Critics call the book 'an intriguing and intense collection whose imagery and mood linger after the first reading, enticing a reader back for seconds.'" Rath says, "Although my work has been successful in several genres, I began with poetry and my poetry is still the most important to me, perhaps because my poems are so intensely personal." The
AUTHOR Sara Rath was born in Manawa, Wisconsin, on June 23, 1941, the oldest child of Kneale and Margaret (Kasper) Lindsay. Her father, and before him, her grandfather and great-grandfather, owned the Little Wolf Lumber Company there. Her mother was a teacher. She began writing as a child and has been writing professionally for over 20 years. However, after graduating from Little Wolf High School in 1959, Sara enrolled at UW-Madison to major in medicine. She was convinced that her destination was to become a missionary and "save the world from leprosy." Graduated with a degree in English, she was fortunate to have the guidance of the late August Derleth who served as her mentor in both poetry and fiction, as well as becoming a close personal friend. Among her published works are two other books of poetry, Whatever Happened to Fats Domino & Other Poems, 1971, and The Cosmic Virgin, 1973. She has also written the popular Easy Going: A Guide to Madison & Dane County. Her Pioneer Photographer: Wisconsin's H. H. Bennett, a biography published in 1979, received awards from the Council for Wisconsin writers and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. In 1980, Sara began writing for television. Her drama, "Annzinetta," won WHA-TV's first annual teleplay contest in 1981, as well as an Award of Merit from the Chicago International Film Festival in 1983. Since then, she has done ad hoc work for WHA in both radio and television, writing and producing documentaries. She also teaches creative writing classes in independent study for UW-Extension and edits a poetry column in Madison's monthly newspaper, The Feminist Connection. Currently, Sara lives in McFarland. 1984 WLA Literary Awards Committee
Members
|
| Readers Home Page| LAC Home| WLA Units | WLA Home | A to Z | Search
Please send Committee
questions to:
Chair
|
