Poet Billy Collins to Give Reading at Holy Cross

Award-winning poet Billy Collins will give a poetry reading on Friday, Nov. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the Brooks Concert Hall. Sponsored by the English department and the dean of the College, this event is free and open to the public.

A graduate of the Holy Cross class of 1963, Collins is an English professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York. He is the author of six books of poetry, including, "Picnic, Lightning," "The Art of Drowning," "The Apple That Astonished Paris" and "Questions about Angels." He also has recorded a spoken word compact disc, "The Best Cigarette."

Collins' poetry has appeared in anthologies, textbooks and a variety of periodicals including, "Poetry," "The American Poetry Review," "The Paris Review" and "The New Yorker." Recently the New York Times featured him in a front page article. He has been featured in the Pushcart Prize anthology and The Best American Poetry for 1992, 1993 and 1997.

A recipient of fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, Collins has also won the Bess Hokin Prize, the Frederick Bock Prize, the Oscar Blumenthal Prize and the Levinson Prize.