Acclaimed Poet And Alumnus R.S. Gwynn To Read At U Of A

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - R.S. Gwynn, who received both an M.A. in English and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas, will return to the campus on Wednesday, March 13 at 8 p.m. to read in room 102 of Kimpel Hall. The reading, sponsored by the Programs in Creative Writing, is free and open to the public.

Gwynn was born in Eden, North Carolina. He attended Davidson College, where he played football and twice won the Vereen Bell Award for creative writing. After receiving his B.A. in 1969, he did graduate work at the Breadloaf School of English and entered graduate school at the University of Arkansas where he earned his M.A. in 1972 and his M.F.A. in 1973. While a student at the U of A, he received the John Gould Fletcher Award for Poetry.

Gwynn began publishing his work while still an undergraduate. His poetry, fiction and translations have appeared in such journals as the New England Review and the Sewannee Review. His first collection of poetry "Bearing and Distance" was published by Cedar Rock Press in 1977 and was followed by "Narcissiad," a satirical poem, in 1982. His book of poems "The Drive-In" won the Breakthrough Award from the University of Missouri Press in 1986. His most recent book is "No Word of Farewell: Poems 1970-2000" published in 2000 by Story Line Press.

Gwynn’s criticism of contemporary poetry began to appear in little magazines in the mid-1970’s. Since then, he has been a regular contributor to several journals. For five years beginning in 1987, he wrote "The Year in Poetry" for the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, and he later edited two volumes of the DLB on contemporary American poetry. He also has edited The Advocates of Poetry: A Reader of American Poet-Critics of the Modernist Era, New Expansive Poetry: Theory, Criticism, History, and anthologies of poetry and fiction for the Longman Pocket Anthology series. He is currently working on a volume of his selected criticism.

Gwynn lives in Beaumont, Texas, where he is University Professor at Lamar University. He and his wife Donna have three sons and one grandchild.