The Archive Literary Festival conclude on Tuesday, April 12, with a keynote by poet and former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins. The popular poet will give a free, public talk at 8 p.m. in the Nelson Music Room in East Duke Building on East Campus.
Named “the most popular poet in America” by Bruce Weber in the New York Times, Billy Collins is famous for conversational, witty poems that welcome readers with humor but often slip into quirky, tender or profound observation on the everyday, reading and writing, and poetry itself.
Collins was Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York, Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute, Florida, a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library (1992) and the New York State Poet for 2004-2006.
Collins' reading will be followed by a reception and book signing.