English department brings Rita Dove

The English department will host Pulitzer Prize-winning former poet laureate Rita Dove for a poetry reading 7 p.m. Monday in McAlister Auditorium. Dove will give a reading of her own poetry.

She has authored nine poetry collections, and has also published fiction, drama and an essay collection. Dove received the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for her poetry collection “Thomas and Beulah,” which is about the lives of her grandparents in a historical context. She was appointed U.S. poet laureate in 1993, and was the first black person to receive that honor. She was also the youngest person to ever receive the position.

The English department’s creative writing committee is bringing Dove to Tulane as part of the its Poet Laureate series. Previous speakers in the series include Louise Gluck and Billy Collins.

“I have long admired her work, and the creative writing fund money made it possible to bring her,” English professor Peter Cooley said. “She will be giving a reading of her own poetry. She will appeal to students since her poems have universal human appeal.”

The creative writing fund, established in 2006, has paid for talks by many writers, including Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie and Joan Didion. Carlos Fuentes will speak in April, courtesy of the fund.

English students said they are happy the university has the ability to bring so many high-profile speakers.

“I think it’s great that the English department has the funds recently so they can bring all these different prose writers and poets to campus,” English major Stephanie Drangle said.

Anthropology major Meredith Tremblay said she is interested in these types of talks because they give her a chance to learn about things outside of her major.

“I’m more interested in going to talks like this because I’m in more science classes,” Tremblay said. “It’s nice to be able to mix things up and do something different.”