UA Presents Poetry Reading with A. Van Jordan April 15

The University of Akron Center for Literacy and the Department of English Literary Art Series present poet A. Van Jordan for a reading, reception and book signing on Tuesday, April 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. in Student Union Ballrooms C and D.

This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

A. Van Jordan is the author of poetry books "Rise," "M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A" and "Quantum Lyrics." He received the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award, Anisfield-Wolf Award, Whiting Writers Award and a Pushcart Prize. He also was a recent recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship.

He is an associate professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin, and he serves on the faculty at the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

Of local note, MacNolia Cox, the main character in "M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A," is a 13-year-old girl who won the Akron District Spelling Bee in 1936. Cox was the first African-American to advance to the final round of the national competition.

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