Joyce Carol Oates to speak, Henri Cole to read at 2011 Phi Beta Kappa ceremony

The author will speak, and the poet will read, on May 24.

Photograph by Charles Gross

Joyce Carol Oates

Photograph by Susan Unterberg

Henri Cole

poet Henri Cole and prolific author Joyce Carol Oates will headline the Phi Beta Kappa ceremony at this year's Harvard Commencement.

Oates, who has taught creative writing at Princeton University since 1978, has published more than 50 novels as well as many books of short stories, nonfiction, and poetry, for a rough average of two books per year since her first volume appeared in 1963. She has also written plays, memoirs, and young-adult and children's fiction. Oates's 1969 novel them won the National Book Award. Her novel We Were the Mulvaneys (1996), on an American family, became a bestseller when Oprah's Book Club made it a selection five years later. Her books frequently deal with violence.

Cole, a Boston resident, will be the 2011 Phi Beta Kappa poet. He has published six volumes of  poetry, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a past recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship. His 2003 book Middle Earth (read a review) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2004. From 1982 until 1988 he was executive director of the Academy of American Poets, and he has held teaching  and/or writer-in-residence positions at many institutions, including Harvard; he now teaches at the Ohio State University. His most recent collection is Blackbird and Wolf (2007).

You might also like

‘Passengers’ at A.R.T. Blends Acrobatics with Einstein’s Relativity

Review: Quantum mechanics meets circus arts at the American Repertory Theater’s performance

Harvard Research Funding Cuts Are Illegal, Judge Rules

The Trump administration violated the University’s First Amendment rights and must restore all funding, the court said.

In Sermon, Garber Urges Harvard Community to ‘Defend and Protect’ Institutions

Harvard’s president uses traditional Memorial Church address to encourage divergent views.

Most popular

Harvard art historian Jennifer Roberts teaches the value of immersive attention

Teaching students the value of deceleration and immersive attention

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Jodie Foster Honored at Radcliffe Day 2025

The actress and director discussed her film career and her transformative time at Yale.

Explore More From Current Issue

Colorful illustration of woman multitasking with laptop, baby bottle, toy, and checklist.

Motherhood and Ambition in a Pronatalist World

Gen Z is confronting the age-old question of balance—with a new twist.

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio smiling beside the pink cover of her novel "Catalina" featuring a jeweled star and eye.

Being Undocumented in America

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s writing aims to challenge assumptions. 

Room filled with furniture made from tightly rolled newspaper sheets.

A Paper House in Massachusetts

The 1920s Rockport cottage reflects resourceful ingenuity.