Smith Hosts Reading by Distinguished Poet Mary Oliver

Distinguished poet Mary Oliver will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, in the Wright Hall Auditorium. Sponsored by the Poetry Center at Smith College with generous support from the Department of English Language and Literature, the Landscape Studies Committee and the Smith College Lecture Committee, this event is free and open to the public.

Oliver is the author of 16 books, and her poetry has been called "an excellent antidote for the excesses of civilization." Her poems-beloved and essential to a wide spectrum of readers-are filled with vivid, precise images of nature; the wonder of everyday observations; and a keen sense of texture, smell and color. A prolific writer, Oliver has written two books on the craft of writing: "A Poetry Handbook" and "Rules for the Dance." Her most recent volume, "Winter Hours," includes prose, poetry, and prose poems.

Oliver is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Shelly Memorial Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, and an American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Achievement Award. In 1984, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her book "American Primitive." She is also the winner of the 1992 National Book Award. Oliver is a resident of Provincetown, Mass., and holds the Catherine Osgood Chair for Distinguished Teaching at Bennington College.

The reading will be followed by bookselling and signing. A capacity crowd is expected at this reading; please come early to be sure to get a seat. For further information, contact Cindy Furtek in the Poetry Center office at (413)585-4891 or Ellen Doré Watson, director, at (413)585-3368.