Contact: Kenneth Billings
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Award-winning poet and author Gerry LaFemina will read from his works during an Oct. 29 public program at Mississippi State.
Part of the Robert Holland Reading Series sponsored by the university's English department and Shackouls Honors College, the free event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Rogers Auditorium (Room 100) of McCool Hall.
LaFemina currently directs the Lyric Center for Creative Writing at Frostburg State University in Maryland. An associate professor, he also teaches creative writing, modern and contemporary literature, and creative writing pedagogy.
Winner of the prestigious Pushcart Prize given by the New York-based Pushcart Press, he will read selections from "Wish List" (Marick Press, 2009), his latest collection of short fiction, as well as a variety of poetry from his other published works. A number of his books will be available for sale at the program's conclusion.
LaFemina is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Western Michigan University. Among his earlier works are "Graffiti Heart," "The Window Facing Winter," "Zarathustra in Love," and "The Parakeets of Brooklyn."
Selected for the 2003 Bordighera Prize, "Parakeets" was published in an English-Italian bilingual edition.
For additional biographical information, visit http://gerrylafemina.net/.
For more information, telephone the English department at 662-325-3644.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.