Kiki Petrosino, an acclaimed poet known for her use of repetition and unconventional hyphenation in conjunction with traditional poetic forms, will visit Longwood on Thursday, Oct. 17, as part of the Authors Reading Series.

Petrosino will give a reading in Wygal Hall at 7:30 p.m., followed by a reception and book signing in the Haga Room. The event is free and open to the public.

She is best known as the author of Witch Wife, which was cited by the New York Times as one of the best works of poetry of 2017. She has written three other poetry collections, including White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia, published in 2020, which explores her genealogic and intellectual roots. Her memoir, Bright, was released in 2002.

"White Blood includes a 'crown' of sonnets, in which the final line of one poem is repeated as the initial line of the next," said Liz Hall Magill, lecturer of English in the Department of English and Modern Languages. "Petrosino uses the crown to depict life at the University of Virginia, giving personal meaning to her examination of invisible labor in the present as well as the past."

Petrosino is a professor of poetry at the University of Virginia, where she teaches in the MFA and undergraduate Creative Writing programs. She is the recipient of a DeWitt Wallace/Readers Digest fellowship from MacDowell artist residency, a Pushcart Prize, a Fellowship in Creative Writing from the National Endowment for the Arts, the UNT Rilke Prize and the Spalding Prize, among other honors.

A native of Baltimore, Petrosino earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia, a master's in humanities from the University of Chicago and a Master of Fine Arts from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

For more information about the Authors Reading Series event, contact the English and Modern Languages Department at (434) 395-2155.