Campus and community members are invited to welcome spring and celebrate Women’s History Month when University of Maine at Presque Isle students host a poetry reading on Thursday, March 31 at Noon in the Campus Center. Refreshments will be provided and the public is invited to attend.

The event, which is being sponsored by the University’s English Program and its online journal Upcountry, is slated to feature students’ original works, as well as romantic and pastoral poems “from the Greats,” according to student organizer Candice Rivera. Rivera and fellow English major Mika Ouellette are organizing the poetry reading.

“We want to promote an interest in poetry and live readings,” Rivera said. “We also would like to see students become more interested in self-expression through poetry and to encourage publication of their work through UMPI’s online journal, Upcountry. It’s a chance to showcase student work and Poetry Workshops offered by the university, as much of the student work was produced while attending one of our workshop classes.”

Students, faculty and staff members are expected to participate in the reading, which will have a strong focus on poetry by women over the centuries. Some of the women whose poems will be featured include Native American poet Nora Naranjo-Morse and Dr. Melissa Crowe, the winner of the inaugural Betsy Sholl Award for Excellence in Poetry. Crowe served as a full-time English faculty member at UMPI from 2004 to 2008 and continues to teach online classes for the institution.

Rivera and Ouellette are hoping many members of the campus and community will join them for this special event: “We welcome the public to come and share their appreciation of poetry and the energy of live readings,” Rivera said.

The public is invited to attend this free event. Refreshments will be provided. For more information, contact Rivera or Ouellette atCandice.Rivera@maine.edu or Mika.Ouellette@maine.edu.