Poet to Read from His Work for Black Poetry Day

In honor of Black Poetry Day, award-winning poet Rickey Laurentiis will read from his book “Boy with Thorn” Thursday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m. in Krinovitz Recital Hall, Hawkins Hall.

Laurentiis’s book was named one of the top 10 debuts of 2015 by Poets & Writers Magazine, and individual poems have appeared in various publications, including the Los Angeles Review of Books, Boston Review and The New York Times. “Boy with Thorn” won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and the Levis Reading Prize, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and Kate Tufts Discovery Award.

He is the recipient of a 2014 fellowship from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy, a 2013 Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a 2012 Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship. He received an MFA in writing from Washington University in St. Louis, where he was a Chancellor's Graduate Fellow.

Laurentiis has taught at a variety of institutions, including Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College. He currently lives and teaches in New York.

For more information, contact Dr. Alexis Levitin, distinguished professor of English, at 518-564-2426 or [email protected].