The Annual Maurice Brown Poetry Reading is proud to host Sharon Bryan, poet, essayist, and winner of an Academy of American Poets Prize.  She will be reading selections from her poetry in Gold Rooms B and C in the Oakland Center on Thursday, October 25, 2007, at 4 p.m. Admission is free, and refreshments will be served.

Professor Bryan, a native of Utah, has published three collections of poetry: Salt Air, Objects of Affection, and Flying Blind. She edited a collection of essays, Where We Stand: Women Poets on Literary Tradition, and co-edited, with William Olsen, Planet on the Table: Poets on the Reading Life.  In addition to the Academy of American Poets’ prize, she has also received two NEA fellowships for her poetry, the Discovery Award from The Nation, and a Governor's Award from the state of Washington. Her poems appear in numerous anthologies, including Writing Poems, Poetry 180, and Good Poems. She is currently finishing a collection of poems, "Stardust," and working on a memoir, "Hearing Voices." She has taught as a visiting poet at universities around the country including Dartmouth College, San Diego State University, Pacific University, and California State University, Fresno.

This reading is sponsored by the Department of English as a tribute to Professor Maurice Brown, who taught in Oakland University’s English Department from 1961 until his death in 1985. The Maurice Brown Collection of Contemporary Poetry in Kresge Library also honors his memory.

For more information, contact:

Department of English

(248) 370-2251

Books at Kresge Library by Sharon Bryan

(includes Salt Air, Objects of Affection, Flying Blind,and Where We Stand)

Free Web Resources

Poems by Sharon Bryan:

• “You Are Here"
• “Frankly”
• “I Haven't Got All Day ”
• "Abiding Love" (2d poem on site)

Reflections by W. T. Pfefferly on an interview with Sharon Bryan (actual interview appears in Pfefferle’s Poets on Place:  Interviews & Tales from Road)

Other Online Resources (limited to OU faculty, staff, and students)

Biographical Information on Sharon Bryan from Contemporary Authors Online

Bryan, Sharon. "Body and Soul." Poetry 180.4 (2002): 205(3).

---. "Saying Things." Poetry 180.4 (2002): 203(3).

---. "Stardust.(Poem)." TriQuarterly 119 (2004): 47(5).

Past Maurice Brown Poetry Reading Poets