Contact: Jack Bailey (304) 766-4109 jbaile19@wvstateu.edu

INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Virginia State University (WVSU) College of Arts and Humanities is hosting a poetry reading featuring guest poet Jack B. Bedell, the poet laureate of Louisiana, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 27.

The free event will take place at the Della Brown Taylor Hardman Art Gallery, located in the John W. Davis Fine Arts Center on the University’s Institute campus.
Bedell has been appointed by Gov. John Bel Edwards to serve as Louisiana Poet Laureate from 2017-2019. His work has appeared in the Southern Review, Hudson Review, Connecticut Review, Paterson Literary Review, Texas Review, Southern Quarterly and other journals.

He is a professor of English and coordinator of Creative Writing at Southeastern Louisiana University. He also edits Louisiana Literature and directs the Louisiana Literature Press. His latest collections are “Elliptic,” “Revenant,” and “No Brother – This Storm.”

Bedell was born and raised in south Louisiana. He earned his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches before attending the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, where he earned his master of fine arts and the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, where he earned his doctorate degree.

A reception will be held after the reading. For more information, contact Program Associate Brittany Fletcher at (304) 766-3126 or .
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