TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Novelist Kwame Dawes will read from his poetry work on Thursday, Sept. 13, at 7:30 p.m., in 205 Smith Hall, as part of this year's Bankhead Visiting Writers Series at The University of Alabama. The event is free and open to the public.

Dawes has published six collections of poetry including “Progeny of Air,” which won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection, “Resisting the Anomie,” “Prophets,” and “Shook Foil,” which is a collection of reggae-inspired poems. His most recent book of poems, “Midland,” won the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize from Ohio University Press. He is also the author of a collection of short stories, “A Place to Hide,” a novel set in Jamaica, “Bivouac,” and is the editor of an anthology of reggae poetry, “Wheel and Come Again.” Several of his plays such as “Friends and Almost Lovers” and “Song of an Injured Stone” have had successful runs in a number of countries including Jamaica and Canada.

His critical work on Caribbean Literature and African Literature has been featured in a number of major literary journals including Poetry Review, The Atlanta Review and The Washington Post. He has been made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Iowa’s writing program and an Associate Fellow of the University of Warwick. Dawes has received an Individual Artist Award from the South Carolina Arts Commission. He currently lives in Columbia, S.C. where he is an associate professor in English at the University of South Carolina.

The Bankhead Visiting Writers Series is made possible by an endowment from the Bankhead Foundation, The University of Alabama’s program in creative writing, the department of English, and the College of Arts and Sciences. For more information, contact the creative writing program at 205/348-0766.