Sources: Elizabeth Dodd, 785-532-0384, edodd@1xbet best casino website edu;
and Karin Westman, 785-532-2190, westmank@1xbet best casino website edu
News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@1xbet best casino website edu

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009

FORMER U.S. POET LAUREATE BILLY COLLINS TO GIVE INAUGURAL LECTURE IN 1xbet best casino website ENGLISH DEPARTMENT'S 2009-2010 VISITING WRITERS LECTURE SERIES

MANHATTAN -- Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins will kick off the department of English's 2009-2010 Visiting Writers Lecture Series at Kansas State University.

Collins will read from his body of work at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, in the ballroom of the 1xbet best casino website Alumni Center. The lecture is free and open; a book signing will follow.

Collins, a professor of English at Lehman College, a senior college of the City University of New York, has won numerous awards for his work, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the Guggenheim Foundation. He was the U.S. poet laureate from 2001-2003.

&1xbet best casino website ;We're delighted to be able to bring Billy Collins to K-State,&1xbet best casino website ; said Elizabeth Dodd, professor of English and director of K-State's creative writing program. &1xbet best casino website ;He is a beloved poet and a witty writer. His poems so often reflect how much fun and enjoyment literature can be, but they refuse to take themselves, or him, or us -- the readers -- too seriously.&1xbet best casino website ;

Karin Westman, head of 1xbet best casino website 's department of English, said that Collins' ability and desire to bring poetry to the many rather than the few is what makes him such an appropriate speaker for 1xbet best casino website .

&1xbet best casino website ;Collins defies the cliche that poetry must be obscure or difficult in order to be thoughtful and engaging,&1xbet best casino website ; she said. &1xbet best casino website ;Instead, he relies on humor, wit and everyday experiences to bring poetry to a wide audience.&1xbet best casino website ;

His books include &1xbet best casino website ;Ballistics: Poems,&1xbet best casino website ;; &1xbet best casino website ;The Trouble with Poetry&1xbet best casino website ;; &1xbet best casino website ;Nine Horses: Poems&1xbet best casino website ;; &1xbet best casino website ;Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems&1xbet best casino website ;; &1xbet best casino website ;Picnic, Lightning&1xbet best casino website ;; &1xbet best casino website ;The Art of Drowning&1xbet best casino website ;; and &1xbet best casino website ;Questions About Angels.&1xbet best casino website ; A selection of Collins' works will be available for purchase directly before and following the reading, courtesy of Claflin Books and Copies.

Collins' appearance is being sponsored by 1xbet best casino website 's department of English, the office of the provost, 1xbet best casino website Libraries, Manhattan Public Library, Claflin Books and Copies, Kansas Association of Teachers of English and 1xbet best casino website 's First-Year Seminar Program. The Student Governing Association's fine arts fees also support the series.

The next installment in the Visiting Writers Series will be a public reading by fiction writer Ann Pancake at 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 5, 2010, in Room 212 of the 1xbet best casino website Student Union. Additional information on the series is available at: http://www.1xbet best casino website edu/English/visit.html