Former Poet Laureate Kay Ryan Reads for Midwest Poets Series

Former Poet Laureate Kay Ryan, called “one of the great living American poets” by the Poetry Foundation, will appear in the Midwest Poets Series’ 28th season at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27, in Mabee Theater on the Rockhurst University campus.

Ryan, who held the position of Poet Laureate of the United States from 2008 to 2010, will deliver the annual Rev. Robert R. Burke, S.J., Memorial Reading in celebration of her latest collection, The Best of It: New and Selected Poems.

Ryan is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, a recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. For many years, Ryan has taught remedial English part-time at the College of Marin in Kentfield, Calif.

Admission to this public event is $3 at the door. A reception with book signing begins immediately following the reading in the lobby of Greenlease Art Gallery, adjacent to Mabee Theater in Sedgwick Hall on the Rockhurst University campus, 54th Street and Troost Avenue. For more information, call (816) 501-4607.