Poet Gary Gildner coming March 12

The English Department continues its 2002 –03 Visiting Writer Series with poet Gary Gildner, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, at the Museum of Art.

Gildner is best known for his eight books of poetry, including “Letters From Vicksburg” (1977), “Blue Like The Heavens” (1984), “Clackama: Poems” (1991), and “The Bunker In The Parsley Field” (1997), which won the 1996 Iowa Poetry Prize. He has also written two novels, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, “The Warsaw Sparks” (1990), which he wrote while he was a Fulbright lecturer at the University of Warsaw and coach of the city’s baseball team. His latest work, “My Grandfather’s Book,” was released in 2002 from the Michigan State University Press.

Gildner is a Pushcart Prize recipient. He has received the National Magazine Award for Fiction, the Robert Frost Fellowship, the William Carlos Williams and Theodore Roethke poetry prizes, and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

A reception and book signing will follow. Books will be available for sale before and after the event, courtesy of The Bookie.