Converse Celebrates National Poetry Month

During the month of April, award-winning poets Mark Cox and Terrance Hayes will conduct public readings, and question and answer sessions on the campus of Converse College. The events, which are in celebration of National Poetry Month (NPM), are free and open to the public.

The events are scheduled for April 2 and April 22, with the Q & A sessions to be held in Room 201 of Mickel Library and the readings scheduled to be held in the Cleveland Hall Alumnae House at 7:30 p.m. both readings.

Mark Cox; April 2
Q& A session: 3-4 p.m. in Room 201 of Mickel Library
Reading: 7:30 p.m. in Cleveland Hall Alumnae House followed by reception and book signing.

Mark Cox is the author of three books including Smoulder and Thirty-Seven Years From the Stone. His writing has received a Whiting Writer’s Award, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the Vermont Council on the Arts and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. He currently directs the creative writing program at UNC-Wilmington and teaches in the Vermont College MFA program.

Terrance Hayes; April 22
Q& A session: 4-5 p.m. in Room 201 of Mickel Library
Reading: 7:30 p.m.; Cleveland Hall Alumnae House; Followed by reception and book signing.

Author of Hip Logic (National Poetry Series Selection) and Muscular Music, winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and a Whiting Emerging Writers Award, Terrance Hayes’ work has appeared in American Poetry: The Next Generation and Giant Steps: The New Generation of African American Writers. He teaches in the Creative Writing Department at Carnegie Mellon University.

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, NPM brings together publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools, and poets around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.

For more information, call 596-9099.