By The Keystone Newspaper Reading offered KU students the chance to engage with award-winning work
By Katelynn Humbles
Acclaimed Jamaican poet Shara McCallum gave a public reading on Wednesday, April 23 in the Formal Dining Room of the McFarland Student Union (MSU), offering KU students, faculty and community members the chance to engage with her award-winning work.
Photo Credit: Katelynn Humbles
The free event, hosted by the English Department, featured readings from her most recent collections, “Behold” and “No Ruined Stone.” McCallum’s poetry explores identity, memory, and history through lyrical and deeply personal verse.
Author of seven books and winner of multiple prestigious awards—including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Musgrave Medal and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award—McCallum has been translated into multiple languages and featured in international journals and anthologies. Her poems have also been set to music.
McCallum formerly directed the Stadler Center for Poetry and served as Penn State Laureate. She is currently an Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English at Penn State University.
Following the reading, guests had the opportunity to purchase McCallum’s books and participate in a Q&A session. Students praised the event for its intimacy and insight, noting that hearing poetry aloud helped them better appreciate the rhythm and emotional nuance of the written word.