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Finch will be on campus April 23 and 24 for a reading, lecture, and class visits associated with the Chadwick Memorial Poetry Series. This is the first in-person event in the series, which was established in 2022 with a virtual visit from Reginald Gibbons, distinguished poet and Frances Hooper Professor of Arts and Humanities at Northwestern University.

The Chadwick Memorial Poetry Series was established in honor of Jerah Chadwick ’78, who was the Alaska Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. The lecture and reading on April 24 are open to the public.

Finch is celebrated for her use of form, meter, and traditional styles of poetry while breathing modern sensibilities into the verses she crafts.

Professor of English Joshua Corey explained, “Annie Finch is particularly committed to keeping these traditional forms alive while writing about contemporary themes as a feminist poet.”

Finch is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Spells: New and Selected Poems. Much of her poetry deals with themes of feminism, magic, and earth-based spirituality. 

“It’s always great whenever students can meet a living writer or a poet,” Corey said. “With poetry in particular, people encounter Emily Dickenson and Shakespeare, which is wonderful stuff, but they may not connect with poetry as a living and breathing discipline. Visits like this can demystify what it is to write poetry and be a poet today."

This event is a fitting memorial to Chadwick, who taught at the University of Alaska and was a founding director of USAFV (Unalaskans against Sexual Assault and Family Violence). He also helped establish the Museum of the Aleutians, which aims to preserve the history and prehistory of the Aleutian Islands region in Alaska. The Chadwick Memorial Fund was started by a group of Lake Forest College alumni.

The event is sponsored by the Chadwick Memorial fund, the Department of English, and Lake Forest College Press.

Related links

• Event details
• Explore English