EUGENE–Michael Collier, the award-winning author of four books of poetry and director of the country’s most distinguished writing conference, will read from his work on Thursday, Oct. 26, at the University of Oregon.

The free public reading, the second in the 2000-2001 UO Program in Creative Writing series, will begin at 8 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge at Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St. It is made possible through the generous support of the UO College of Arts and Sciences.

Poet Edward Hirsch describes Collier’s latest collection of poetry, "The Ledge," as "so smoothly and cannily made that it’s almost possible to overlook their shocking undercurrents, the way they find the seam of experience and plunge bravely into the unknown, the impermissible, the mysterious."

Poet Julia Alvarez notes that "Collier shows not just his lyrical mastery but his narrative ability, his unerring ear for the musicality of the English language, his talent for storytelling."

Collier, whose older sister was an Olympic springboard diver, says that he feels a poem is much like a dive.

"You have to fight gravity and language to get yourself in the air. Once there, you have to quickly manipulate your body or words in an effortless manner," he says.

Collier has received a Pushcart Prize, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, a Guggenheim fellowship, the Alice Fay di Castagnola Prize from the Poetry Society of America, and a Discovery, The Nation Award.

He is the director of the annual Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Middlebury, Vt., which is widely regarded as one of the nation’s most venerable literary events. This past August, he directed the 75th anniversary of Bread Loaf, which was begun by poet Robert Frost and which has helped nurture some of the country’s greatest writers.

The co-director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Maryland, Collier also has edited several anthologies of poetry.

For more information, call the Creative Writing Program, (541) 346-0544.

—30—

#P-2062/A&E