The College of Wooster welcomes writer Derek Mong for poetry reading Oct. 16

The College of Wooster will welcome poet, essayist, and translator Derek Mong for a reading from two of his poetry collections. The reading will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 16 in room 060 of Ruth W. Williams Hall (931 College Mall). 

Mong will read from his latest poetry collection titled The Identity Thief, published in 2018, where he explores how one learns about the possibilities of becoming someone else and imagines the pleasures of being another. He will also showcase poetry from his book Other Romes, published in 2011, wherein Mong works to confront the awkward but inevitable relationship between personal narratives and the larger public sphere.  

Mong is an associate professor of English at Wabash College and has received numerous accolades for his poetry, prose, and translation work. Mong has received the Missouri Review’s Editors’ Choice Prize and six nominations for the Pushcart Prize, which celebrates the best literature published by small presses. He has also held fellowships including the Axton Fellowship in Poetry at the University of Louisville, the Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Cornwell Fellowship at the University of Michigan, and served as the Dunbar Scholar in the Humanities at Denison University. He also writes about poetry for The Gettysburg Review and blogs at Kenyon Review Online. He holds a doctorate from Stanford University in English literature and a master’s degree in poetry from the University of Michigan. 

In addition to reading from his poetry books, Mong will also discuss his experience of having a career in literature, with a question-and-answer session to follow. For more information, contact Daniel Bourne, visiting professor emeritus in English at dbourne@wooster.edu.

Photo provided by Mong.

Posted in News on October 13, 2023.