With the publication of the eighth and final volume, “World's End,” William O'Daly “brings his awe-inspiring … Copper Canyon project to a conclusion with taut, spare renderings that capture what, in the end, is the hopeful pith of Neruda” (Los Angeles Times Book Review).

The final reading, performance, and reception celebrates the culmination of O'Daly's 25 years of delivering Chile's great National Poet and Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda's posthumous poetry to English-speaking readers. Joined by the masterful Spanish classical guitar of Louis V. Johnson, O'Daly will read from the Neruda series and from his own work. O'Daly also will share insights about living inside the poetry of the Chilean poeta del pueblo, “poet of the people,” for more than 30 years.

Louis, a highly accomplished and versatile guitarist, has several CDs to his credit, the most recent being “Goodbye to Mexico,” with new compositions to be previewed at the performance. A book signing will be conducted, and CDs will be available for sale.

A reception will follow the performance, with music, complimentary hors d'oeuvres, no-host bar, and specialty coffees for purchase.

Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda was born Neftalí Eliecer Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in Parral, Chile, in 1904. He served as consul in Burma (now Myanmar) and held diplomatic posts in various East Asian and European countries. In 1945, with his poetry having gained a wide international following, Neruda was elected to the Chilean Senate.

Shortly thereafter, when Chile's political climate took a sudden turn to the right, Neruda fled on horseback over the Andes and lived as an exile for many years.

Beloved by the Chilean people and looked upon warily by the Chilean aristocracy and the right wing (though nearly all Chileans can recite at least two of his love poems), his poetry garnered prizes the world over. His collected works would eventually span five large volumes. In 1970, he was appointed Chile's ambassador to France, and in 1971 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died in 1973, 12 days after the military coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power and ended Chilean democracy for almost two decades.

William O'Daly

A resident of the Sierra Nevada foothills, William O'Daly is a poet, translator, and fiction writer. His published works include eight books of the late and posthumous poetry of Chilean Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda — “Still Another Day,” “The Separate Rose,” “Winter Garden,” “The Sea and the Bells,” “The Yellow Heart,” “The Book of Questions,” “The Hands of Day,” and “World's End” — and a chapbook of his own poems, “The Whale in the Web.”

O'Daly was a finalist for the 2006 Quill Award in Poetry for “Still Another Day” and was profiled on NBC's The Today Show. A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, he has worked as a literary and technical editor, a college professor, and an instructional designer; his poems, translations, essays, and reviews have been published in a wide range of magazines and anthologies. He is a board member of Poets Against War and co-founder of Copper Canyon Press. With co-author Han-ping Chin, he recently completed a historical novel, “This Earthly Life,” based on the Chinese Cultural Revolution. This Earthly Life was awarded as a “Finalist” in prestigious Narrative magazine's national 2009 Fall Story Contest.

O'Daly will lead writing workshops during Poetic Spirit: An Exploration of Inner and Outer Landscapes, a three-day conference set for June 17–19 in Modoc County.

Pre-publication praise for “World's End”

“In this book-length poem, completely translated for the first time into English and presented in a bilingual format, Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda composes a ‘valediction to the Sixties and confronts a grim disillusionment growing inside him. Terrifying, beautiful, vast, and energized, Neruda's work speaks of oppression and warfare, his own guilt, and the ubiquitous fear that came to haunt the century that promised to end all wars. World's End also marks the final book in Copper Canyon's dynamic series of Neruda's late and posthumous work. These best-selling books have become perennial favorites of readers, librarians, and teachers. O'Daly has been recognized as one of the world's most insightful caretakers of Neruda's poetry; his work has been featured on ‘The Today Show'; Publishers Weekly praised his efforts as ‘awe-inspiring.'”