Minnesota Poet Laureate Joyce Sutphen to Speak Here Wednesday, April 25

Joyce Sutphen, Minnesota’s poet laureate, will read poetry from her collections here on Wednesday, April 25. She will speak at 5 p.m. in the O’Shaughnessy Room (108) of the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center on the university’s St. Paul campus.

Sutphen's collections include Straight Out of View, Coming Back to the Body and Naming the Stars, which won the Minnesota Book Award for Poetry in 2005. She also will read from the works of her favorite poets, including William Butler Yeats, Emily Dickinson and Shakespeare.

The reading, free and open to the public, is in honor of National Poetry Month, held annually during April.

Sutphen teaches literature and creative writing at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., and is Minnesota’s second official poet laureate. She succeeds Robert Bly, who held the position from February 2008 to August 2011. She earned a Ph.D. in Renaissance drama from the University of Minnesota.

Her poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, Minnesota Monthly and many other journals. Her work has been featured in Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry and on National Public Radio’s “The Writer's Almanac.”  

As poet laureate for Minnesota, Sutphen serves as the primary representative of poetry in the state. She was appointed last fall by Gov. Mark Dayton.

A book signing will follow the reading. Her books will be available for purchase (cash and check).

Campus parking information is available here.

The program, which includes wine and cheese, is sponsored by UST Libraries and the English Department, part of St. Thomas' College of Arts and Sciences. For more information email Julie Kimlinger.