10/20/03

Roy Summerford, 334/844-9999

PULITZER-WINNING POET TO GIVE READING AT AU MUSEUM

CARL DENNIS

AUBURN -- Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carl Dennis will present a public reading at Auburn University's Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art on Thursday (Oct. 23) as part of the Department of English Symposium Series in the College of Liberal Arts.

Dennis, who won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 2002 for the book Practical Gods, will speak at 3 p.m. in the museum auditorium. Admission to the reading is free; admission is charged only for visitors who tour the galleries.

The author of eight other books of poetry, Dennis has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2000, Poetry Magazine and the Modern Poetry Association presented him with the Ruth Lilly Prize for contributions to American Poetry. He teaches in the English Department at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Dennis is the second speaker this fall in the new English Symposium Series. Molly Smith, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Seton Hall University, inaugurated the series on Sept. 11.

Two other speakers in the series, including another Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, are scheduled for spring semester. Anthony Hecht, who won the coveted award in 1968 for The Hard Hours, will read from his recent works on March 4, and Robyn Wiegman, director of women's studies at Duke University, will speak on April 15.

The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art is at South College Street and Woodfield Drive, between the AU main campus and Interstate 85.

oct03:AU-poet

CONTACT: Betsy Smith, Department of English, 334/844-9071.