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Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins visits ����ɫ��ҹ University on Thursday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Kent Student Center Ballroom as part of the Wick Poetry Center’s annual U.S. Poet Laureate Reading in celebration of National Poetry Month. The reading is free and open to the public.

“Billy Collins is probably the most popular contemporary poet in the United States, and we are delighted that he has agreed to be the featured reader for the second annual U.S. Poet Laureate Reading,” said Jessica Jewell, program coordinator for the Wick Poetry Center at ����ɫ��ҹ. “Not only is he an accomplished poet, he is also a dedicated educator who has spent a large part of his career trying to demystify poetry and make it accessible to a larger audience.”

Collins is the author of several books of poetry, including Ballistics, Nine Horses, Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems and Questions ����ɫ��ҹ Angels, which was selected for the National Poetry Series.

Collins’ works have appeared in textbooks, anthologies and periodicals like Poetry, American Poetry Review and The New Yorker. He has edited Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry, an anthology of modern poetry used in schools. Collins has received awards and recognition from the New York Foundation of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.

“Collins is known as being a wonderful and engaging reader and speaker, and we are anticipating an audience that may top 800,” Jewell said. “I can’t think of a better evening of poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month.”

The U.S. Poet Laureate Series is a collaboration between ����ɫ��ҹ’s Wick Poetry Center and University Libraries, with sponsorship from the Honors College, Department of History and Department of English.

A U.S. Poet Laureate exhibit will be on display in the ����ɫ��ҹ University Library throughout April.

For more information, visit www.kent.edu/wick.