Louisiana Poet Laureate Alison Pelegrin to present reading on Sept. 18

NATCHITOCHES - Louisiana Poet Laureate Alison Pelegrin will present a selection of her poetry at a reading on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Varnado Hall Ballroom at 541 University Parkway. There is no admission charge, and the public is invited to attend. Those who would like to watch the reading online can go to www.nsula.edu/LFCEvent.

Pelegrin will be introduced by Dr. Rebecca Macijeski, coordinator of the NSU Creative Writing Program, who will also act as the moderator for the Q&A following the reading.

Pelegrin will also join with students from the Department of English, Languages, and Cultural Studies in creative writing classes with poetry instructors Shea Montgomery and Macijeski.

"This will be a great opportunity for our students and larger community to hear Pelegrin's poems," said Macijeski. "In addition to her impressive publication record and national acclaim, she has deep ties to Louisiana. Her poems are present in this world we know here, and remind us to pay attention to what speaks around us."

Former Gov. John Bel Edwards named Pelegrin Poet Laureate of Louisiana in 2023.

"The Poet Laureate acts as Louisiana's literary ambassador, and Alison's long record of teaching, sharing, and producing poetry that engages readers makes her a perfect fit as the preeminent poet of our state," said Edwards when Pelegrin was named. "Her work is both beautifully crafted and appeals to a broad range of readers, and it will undoubtedly help elevate poetry in the public consciousness."

A Covington resident, Pelegrin is writer-in-residence at Southeastern Louisiana University, where she has taught for 20 years. She is the author of "Our Lady of Bewilderment" (LSU Press, 2022), "Waterlines" (LSU Press, 2016), "Hurricane Party" (University of Akron Press, 2011) and "Big Muddy River of Stars" (University of Akron Press, 2007), which was the winner of the 2006 Akron Poetry Prize. Her chapbook "Our Lady of the Flood" won the Diode 2018 chapbook prize and an Eric Hoffer Award.

Pelegrin received a literature fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and an ATLAS Grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents. Her work has appeared in Bennington Review, The Southern Review, Ninth Letter and as printable broadsides at Broadsided. She received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in English from Southeastern Louisiana University and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of Arkansas.

The event is sponsored by NSU's Department of English, Languages, and Cultural Studies, the Louisiana Folklife Center, and the Center for Inclusion and Diversity. For more information, contact Dr. Shane Rasmussen at [email protected]or (318) 357-4332.

This program is funded under a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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