FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Poet W. S. Merwin, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, will read from his work at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, in the Reynolds Center Auditorium on the University of Arkansas campus. His reading will be followed by a book signing. This event, the 2007 Winthrop Rockefeller Distinguished Lecture, is free and open to the public.

Elizabeth Hadaway

Poet W. S. Merwin

Peter Orner

Merwin’s reading serves as the focal point for the 2007 Arkansas Festival of Writers, which also features readings by poet Elizabeth Hadaway and novelist Peter Orner at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 10. The festival aims to draw writers, readers and literary enthusiasts from across the region and state to enjoy the work of nationally prominent authors. It is sponsored by the UA Programs in Creative Writing and Translation.

Merwin is one of the best known, most widely read and respected poets in the world today. He has published 15 books of poetry, several books of translation and numerous collections of essays in a career that has spanned 50 years. In addition to his work as a poet and translator, Merwin is a tireless political and environmental activist who has spoken out against war and imperialism, and has championed environmental issues for decades.

In 1999, the Library of Congress named Merwin Poet Laureate of the United States. His Migration: Selected Poems 1951-2001, published in 2005, was chosen as one of the 100 New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Other honors include the Yale Younger Poets Prize, the $100,000 Tanning Prize, the $25,000 Bollingen Prize, the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and the $200,000 Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Mr. Merwin is one of the founding fathers of contemporary American poetry, and we’re extremely fortunate that he has agreed to headline our festival,” said Davis McCombs, director of the Programs in Creative Writing and Translation. “Because of his activism his presence on campus may open a dialogue, not only about poetry, but about environmental, political and even religious issues.”

Merwin’s appearance at the festival is generously sponsored by the Winthrop Rockefeller Distinguished Lecture Series. Each Rockefeller lecture is selected based upon criteria set out in the 1972 Rockefeller Gift and Trust: “[a] great University is a setting in which ideas and ideals are communicated, and through their public discussion, and the debate about them, become refined for the intellectual and cultural advancement of mankind.”  Former University of Arkansas Winthrop Rockefeller lecturers include: poet Billy Collins, novelist Isabel Allende, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and historian and playwright Howard Zinn.

In addition to hosting one of the most esteemed poets in the nation, the 2007 Arkansas Festival of Writers also introduces two rising stars, Elizabeth Hadaway and Peter Orner.

Hadaway’s first book of poetry, Fire Baton, won the University of Arkansas Press Poetry Series contest and was published in 2006. In addition, she has won a Wallace Stegner Poetry Fellowship to Stanford and has taught at West Virginia University-Parkersburg and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Orner’s first novel, The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, won the Bard Fiction Prize and was published by Little, Brown in 2006. In 2001, Houghton Mifflin published his collection, Esther Stories. Orner has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

“Thanks to Elizabeth Hadaway and Peter Orner, this year’s festival offers a well-rounded program of readings. Attendees will get a sense of both the rich tradition and the promising future of American letters,” said McCombs.

The 2007 Arkansas Festival of Writers has received generous support from the UA department of English, the UA Press, and the Undergraduate Fine Arts Activities Fee. For more information on the festival or its readers, please visit http://www.uark.edu/depts/english/festival.html.