The Writing and Linguistics Department at Georgia Southern University will hold a reading with nationally acclaimed poet Paul Hostovsky where he will present poems from his wide collection of award-winning works.

The reading will include poems from all four of Hostovsky’s full-length collections of poetry. The event will begin at 7 p.m. on Jan. 31 in the Information Technology Building room 1005. It is free and open to the public.

“Having a poet like Hostovsky is an incredible opportunity for the GSU community, in that it allows students, faculty and staff the ability to interact with a real living and breathing and working poet,” Emma Bolden, professor in the Writing and Linguistics Department at GSU, said.

“In hearing a writer read from his work, the poetry flies from the pages of books and becomes as real and living and breathing and working as the poet him or herself,” Bolden said.

This program is put on as a collaborative effort between the Writing and Linguistics Department and the Georgia Poetry Circuit.

“His work is very accessible with a gentle humor and a great sense of compassion for people,” Eric Nelson, professor in the Writing and Linguistics Department and GSU representative for the Georgia Poetry Circuit, said.

The Georgia Poetry Circuit is a collaborative effort of 10 colleges and universities in Georgia that come together every year and vote which poets they want to bring to Georgia and tour the state’s participating schools. The program brings three poets a year to GSU: one in the fall and two in the spring.

“This consortium of schools allows us to have a regular series of visiting poets that all have very impressive work,” Phyllis Dallas, chair of Writing and Linguistics at GSU, said.

“The poets that have come over the years have been very aware of their audience, picking poems to read that will appeal to the wide variety of people in the audience,” Dallas said.

The final edition of this academic year’s Georgia Poetry Circuit will be Jacqueline Osherow on April 10.

Dallas said, “I think it’s really valuable to hear these writers speak on the genesis of their work, you know, how long it takes to do something like this, or where they get their ideas come from. From a student’s perspective there is a huge amount you can learn.”