Author Talk & Signing -The Unknown Face of the Holocaust

Local Poet John Guzlowski will read from his new book Echoes of Tattered Tongues: Memory Unfolded (Aquila Polonica) at the South County Library starting at 6:30 p.m. on March 31. Praised by Virginia Living Magazine as "an astonishing collection," Echoes recounts Guzlowski's family experiences in WWII German prison camps and as Polish immigrants who fled to America after the war. The program titled Echoes of Tattered Tongues -- The Unknown Face of the Holocaust is sponsored by The Roanoke Valley Sister Cities and is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

About the Author: Over a writing career that spans more than 40 years, John Z. Guzlowski has amassed a significant body of published work in a wide range of genres: poetry, prose, literary criticism, reviews, fiction and nonfiction. His work has appeared in numerous national journals and anthologies, and in four prior books. Guzlowski’s work has garnered high praise, including from Nobel Laureate Czesław Miłosz, who called Guzlowski’s poetry “exceptional.” Born in a refugee camp in Germany after World War II, Guzlowski and his family were classified as Displaced Persons and in 1951 arrived in America, where he grew up in a tough immigrant neighborhood in Chicago. His parents had been Polish slave laborers in German concentration camps during the war. In much of his work, Guzlowski remembers and honors the experiences and ultimate strength of these voiceless survivors.

Guzlowski received his B.A. in English Literature from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Purdue University. He is Professor Emeritus of English Literature at Eastern Illinois University, and currently lives in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Praise for Echoes of Tattered Tongues:

“A wonderful book and a very important one. Unwaveringly lucid and luminous. Extraordinary.” — Charles Adès Fishman editor, Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust

“Deeply moving.A powerful, lasting, and sometimes shocking book. Superb.” — Kelly Cherry, Poet Laureate of Virginia (2010–2012)

“Powerful…Deserves attention and high regard.” — Kevin Stein, Poet Laureate of Illinois