By Rut Labrada, Arts & Entertainment Editor

Award-winning poet and professor Geffrey Davis will be visiting VSU on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. to read selected works at the Odum Library Auditorium.

The event is completely free and open to the public.

Dr. Davis will be visiting as a part of the Georgia Poetry Circuit, a consortium of 10 colleges and universities that have a mission of increasing access to the literary arts in the state of Georgia.

Since its founding in 1985, the Georgia Poetry Circuit invites three poets of national and international renown to read selected works from their poetry at participating universities every year, which gives students the opportunity to learn from and interact with diverse writers, according to the circuit’s website.

Born in Seattle, Washington, Dr. Davis is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize and the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and he has released several poetry collections, including “One Wild Word Away” and “Night Angler.”

His next collection, “No Good Ghost,” will be released in 2028 under BOA Edition, a New York based publishing house.

Dr. Davis is currently a professor at the University of Arkansas, and he is also a poetry editor for Iron House Literary Review.

VSU English Professor and poet Marty Williams has been working to arrange the poetry circuit’s visits for the last few years. According to Dr. Williams, Dr. Davis’s works center social justice issues, family dynamic and fatherhood.

“He’s young, and he’s powerful,” he said, referring to Dr. Davis. “I think he will be an exciting reader for the Georgia Poetry Circuit.

This will be the only poetry reading for the fall semester, but the spring semester will see two more poets visiting VSU for the Georgia Poetry Circuit.

For any questions about the event, VSU community members should email Dr. Williams at mlwillia@valdosta.edu.