Poets Francine J. Harris and Marcus Wicker will visit Northern Michigan University to read from their works and give a joint presentation at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 14, in Jamrich Hall 1322. The event is hosted by the NMU Visiting Writers Program and admission is free.
Harris received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan, and currently teaches writing at Interlochen Center for the Arts. Her first collection allegiance, which was inspired by her hometown of Detroit, was a finalist for the 2013 Kate Tufts Discovery and PEN Open Book Award.
Wicker received an MFA from Indiana University and is the recipient of a Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, a Pushcart Prize, The Missouri Review's Miller Audio Prize, and fellowships from Cave Canem and the Fine Arts Work Center. His first collection, Maybe the Saddest Thing, a National Poetry Series winner, was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. His second book, Silencer—also an Image Award finalist—won the Society of Midland Authors Award, as well as the Arnold Adoff Poetry Award for New Voices. Wicker teaches in the MFA program at the University of Memphis, and he is the poetry editor of Southern Indiana Review.
