British Author Iain Sinclair considers the work and legend of Charles Olson

When Charles Olson said “the earth is the geography of our being,” he was invoking a concept known as psychogeography — “the study… of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.”

The Gloucester Writers Center in collaboration with the Cape Ann Museum and the Charles Olson Society will sponsor a reading by prominent British writer, film maker and psychogeographer Iain Sinclair on Saturday, October 15 at 3:00 p.m. at the Cape Ann Museum. This program is free and open to the public. Reservations are required. To make a reservation or for more information please call Jeanette Smith at 978-283-0455 ext 11. or email jeanettesmith@capeannmuseum.org.

As the latest visiting writer at the Gloucester Writers Center, Mr. Sinclair comes to Gloucester from his London home to investigate “the mythopoetic structure cast by the American poet Charles Olson in Gloucester, Massachusetts.”

“Olson’s epic, The Maximus Poems, is dedicated to Robert Creeley as the figure of ‘outward.’ Olson projects his odyssey as a journey through the local into the star field, going out with the tide, understanding the logistics of fishing fleets, understanding the topography that lay under the ocean’the mountain ranges of the Atlantic’and this push becomes a reaching into the cosmos. Launched with the minute particulars of place Blake talks about, Olson’s second movement carries you right back, a return to the human nest. The particulars have become myth.”

Funding for this program was made possible through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which promotes excellence, access, education and diversity in the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences, in order to improve the quality of life for all Massachusetts residents and to contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.

The Cape Ann Museum is located at 27 Pleasant Street in Gloucester. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sundays from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Museum is closed during the month of February, on Mondays, and on major holidays. Admission is $8.00 adults, $6.00 Cape Ann residents, seniors and students. Children under 12 and Museum members are free. The Museum is wheelchair accessible. For more information please call: (978) 283-0455. Additional information can be found online at www.capeannmuseum.org