Acclaimed poet Susan Wheeler to read for The Writing Program Reading Series Nov. 30

Nov. 17, 2006 -- Acclaimed poet Susan Wheeler will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, for The Writing Program Reading Series.

The reading is free and open to the public and is sponsored by The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences. It takes place in Hurst Lounge, located on the second floor of Duncker Hall, in the northeast corner of Brookings Quadrangle. For more information, call (314) 935-7130.

Wheeler is the author of four poetry collections: Bag 'o' Diamonds (1993), Smokes (1998), Source Codes (2001) and Ledger (2005). Her work has appeared in appeared in eight editions of Best American Poetry, as well as in such journals as The Paris Review, New American Writing, Talisman and The New Yorker.

Wheeler is also the author of a novel, Record Palace (2005). Toni Morrison praised the book as "an astonishment," adding that, "Susan Wheeler's deft touch and flawless ear have produced an irresistible work, both fresh and sage."

Bag 'o' Diamonds received the 1993 Norma Farber First Book Award of the Poetry Society of America and was short-listed for the Los Angeles Times Book Award. Smokes won the Four Way Books Award. Other honors include the Witter Bynner Prize for Poetry from the American Academy of Arts & Letters and fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Wheeler grew up in Minnesota and New England and has lived in the New York area for 20 years. Currently on the creative writing faculties of Princeton University and the New School's graduate program, she has also taught at the University of Iowa, New York University, Rutgers University and Columbia University.