For its 2015 Maurice Brown Memorial Poetry Reading, Oakland University will welcome American poet, memoirist and teacher Reginald Dwayne Betts to campus. The event takes place from 5-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 23, in Oakland Center Banquet Room B. Betts is the author of "A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison," which is based on his experience serving nine years in prison starting at age 16.
He received the 2010 Beatrice Hawley Award for his book "Shahid Reads His Own Palm," and his latest release "Bastards of the Reagan Era," is due out in October 2015. He will read excerpts from his new book at the event. His poems have been published in many literary journals, including "Ploughshares," "Crab Orchard Review" and "Poet Lore."
Betts was named by President Obama to the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and is also the national spokesman for the Campaign for Youth Justice; he speaks out for juvenile-justice reform, visits detention centers and inner-city schools, and talks to at-risk young people. He currently teaches poetry with the DC Creative Writing Workshop at Hart Middle School in Wash. D.C. and is attending Yale Law School.
Now in its 28th year, the Maurice Brown Poetry Reading is sponsored by the Department of English as a tribute to the late Maurice F. Brown. Brown taught at Oakland University from 1961 until his death in 1985. His memory is also honored with The Maurice F. Brown Collection of Contemporary Poetry in Kresge Library.
The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided. For more information, contact English professor Annette Gilson at (248) 370-2262 or gilson@oakland.edu.
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