September 17, 2003 SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) - Ellen Voigt, Vermont's poet laureate, will read from her work as part of the Visiting Writers Series, sponsored by The Writers' Institute at Susquehanna University. The reading will take place at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Sept. 29, in Isaacs Auditorium of Seibert Hall. The reading is free and open to the public. Voigt is the author of six collections of poetry, including Claiming Kin, The Forces of Plenty, The Lotus Flowers, Two Trees, Kyrie, which was a finalist for the National Book Critic's Circle Award, and most recently Shadows of Heaven. She also has a book of essays on craft called The Flexible Lyric. Voigt was awarded the 67th Academy of American Poets Fellowship. Her other honors include grants from the Vermont Council of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation and a Pushcart Prize. Her work has been published in The New Yorker and The American Poetry Review. Voigt's background as a student of piano contributed to the musical patterns of her poems. The Vermont Symphony Orchestra performed Voices of 1918, Voigt's poem about the flu epidemic that occurred during World War I which killed more than 25 million people worldwide. A graduate of Converse College and the University of Iowa, Voigt currently teaches for the master of fine arts program at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, N.C. Voigt is the fourth person to be poet laureate of Vermont, the first being Robert Frost. Voigt is the first of seven writers scheduled to read at Susquehanna during the 2003-2004 school year as part of the Visiting Writers Series. On Wednesday, Oct. 8, nonfiction writer Scott Thybony will visit the university. Contact: Victoria Kidd 570-372-4119 #vk/0247#