Author Talk and Book Signing: Dan Burt

Description

Author and poet Dan Burt will read sections of his memoir “Every Wrong Direction” as well as his poetry at the Jesup Memorial Library on Friday, August 10 at 7 p.m.  Burt published the first section of his memoir “You Think It Strange” and is working on the second section which will be combined to create “Every Wrong Direction.” The poetry he will read that night include pieces that correspond with experiences in his memoir.
 
Burt was born in South Philadelphia. His father was a butcher who left school at thirteen when the Depression began, and his mother was a high school graduate whose racketeering family controlled the Tenderloin area of Central Philadelphia. From the ages of 12 to 21, he worked as a butcher after school and on weekends and in the summer also worked as a mate on a charter sport fishing boat off the New Jersey coast. He attended St. John’s College, Cambridge and Cambridge University and graduated from Yale Law School. After graduation he practiced law and was a special assistant to the Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for International Tax. Burt founded two commercial law firms and also served as the president of the Capital Legal Foundation. He also founded a niche software company. Burt moved to London and became a British citizen in 2001. He renounced his U.S.  citizenship in 2005 after George Bush was sworn in as President for a second time.
 
Burt’s poetry has appeared in Poetry Review, PN Review, the TLS, The Financial Times, The Times and Commonwealth. He has written several selections of poetry including, “Searched For Text,” “Cold Eye,” a collaboration with the UK artist Paul Hodgson, “Certain Windows,” containing both poetry and prose and “We Look Like This.” His poems and prose continues to appear in anthologies, pamphlets, journals and periodicals in the UK and US.
 
Books will be on sale that night courtesy of co-sponsor Sherman’s Books. For more information about Burt visit www.danburtpoetry.com and for more information on the talk contact the Jesup at 207-288-4245 or mrice@jesuplibrary.org.