Mark Nowak is one of the most interesting poets working. He gave a rousing Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives brown bag presentation in 2006 on his work linking Ford autoworkers in South Africa and Minnesota through the poetry they wrote in workshops he conducted in both local unions. Mark creates multi-text intersections that are full of surprise, irony, wit and outrage. He soared in his earlier collection, SHUT UP SHUT DOWN (Coffee House Press, 2004) which featured poetic explorations of deindustrialization and blacklisting. His new book, COAL MOUNTAIN ELEMENTARY (Coffee House Press, 2009) is a five text mélange. The book is comprised of reports/memoirs of Chinese mining disasters (arguably the most dangerous workplaces on the globe where scores are killed each year), memories from miners/rescuers connected to the Sago mine disaster here in the US (where 12 miners were killed in 2006 in the worst mine disaster in West Virginia in nearly 40 years), photos from both China's mines and the Sago community, and lesson plans from the American Coal Foundation's curriculum for schoolchildren.

Mark Nowak will read from the new book, COAL MOUNTAIN ELEMENTARY, on Thursday, October 22 in 105 S. Kedzie Hall at 7:30 p.m. This reading is sponsored by Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives. (Note the special location for this presentation; programs are usually held at the MSU Museum.)

See some video from the play based on Mark's new book and hear an audio interview with Mark and others connected to the theatrical production at the website: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2009/04/conversation-poet-mark-nowak-and-director-april-daras-discuss-coal-mountain.html.

In conjunction with the book, Mark has also set up a blog which includes an up to minute reporting of mine disasters around the world, check it out at http://coalmountain.wordpress.com/.

"Our Daily Work / Our Daily Lives" is an MSU program that focuses on the artistic traditions of workers and on workplaces as contexts for the expression of workers culture. The richness and diversity of workers' experiences and workers culture is explored and presented through an ongoing series of exhibits, lectures, and presentations; writing and research projects; reunions; and demonstrations and discussions. The program was established in 1992 and is coordinated by the Michigan Traditional Arts Program at the MSU Museum and the Labor Education Program in the College of Social Science's School of Labor and Industrial Relations. In addition to a brown-bag lecture series, the MSU Museum maintains historical and contemporary artifacts symbolizing workers culture, and has conducted research and produced special exhibitions with workers culture as the central theme.