English professor to read award-winning poetry
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University's award-winning poet Mary Leader, an associate professor of English, will present a poetry reading at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 17 in the Hicks Undergraduate Library bookstall.This 2006-07 Literary Reading Series event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Department of English and the Creative Writing Program.
Leader is the author of "Red Signature," winner of the 1996 National Poetry Series, and "The Penultimate Suitor," winner of the 2000 Iowa Poetry Prize.
The New York Times called her "a searching writer who has her craft down cold," says Daryll Lynne Evans, assistant director of the Creative Writing Program. Leader's work has been featured in numerous journals, as well as on National Public Radio.
Leader had a career in law before coming to poetry. She first worked as a lawyer, as assistant Oklahoma attorney general and later as referee for the Oklahoma Supreme Court. While working fulltime as a lawyer, she earned her master's of fine art at the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College while still working fulltime as a lawyer. Leader earned her doctorate degree from Brandeis University in 2000. She joined Purdue's creative writing faculty program this fall.
The Department of English is housed in the College of Liberal Arts.
Sources: Daryll Lynne Evans, (765) 494-3783, boliviared@purdue.edu
Mary Leader, (765) 494-7493, mleader@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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