Ļć½¶Šć University will host U.S. Poet Laureate Ada LimĆ³n for this yearās Thatcher Hoffman Smith Poetry Series on April 1. The main presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m. with an open mic poetry session beginning at 6:30 p.m. The event will be held in the Meinders School of Business auditorium at NW 26th Street and McKinley Avenue.
Preregistration is required to attend and can be made online at okcu.edu/poetry-series.
The evening will feature a poetry reading by LimĆ³n, followed by a book signing. Full Circle Book Store will be selling copies of LimĆ³n's books.
In describing her interest in the artform, LimĆ³n told the MacArthur Foundation: āFor me, poetry is the language of mystery, it exists in the liminal spaces, the between worlds of waking and sleep, the places where extreme clarity turns into a surreal and unarguable truth.ā
LimĆ³n is the acclaimed author of six books of poetry including āThe Carrying,ā which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her book āBright Dead Thingsā was nominated for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Her most recent collection, āThe Hurting Kind,ā was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. LimĆ³n has also authored two children's books: āIn Praise of Mysteryā illustrated by Peter SĆs, and āAnd, Too, The Fox,ā released this year.
In October 2023, LimĆ³n was awarded a MacArthur āGeniusā Fellowship and was named a TIME magazine Woman of the Year in 2024. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and wrote a poem that was engraved on NASAās Europa Clipper Spacecraft, launched to Jupiterās second moon in October 2024.
As the 24th poet laureate of the United States, LimĆ³nās signature project āYou Are Hereā focuses on how poetry can help connect people to the natural world. She will serve as the poet laureate until this spring.
For more information, visit okcu.edu/poetry-series.
