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Two award-winning poets to read at APSU on Feb. 6

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – A few years ago, the award-winning poet Toi Derricotte read a collection of poems by Austin Peay State University alumnus Jeff Hardin, and she was immediately struck by the simple power and beauty of his words.

“Jeff Hardin is extremely sophisticated, mature and knows exactly what he is doing,” she said.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – A few years ago, the award-winning poet Toi Derricotte read a collection of poems by Austin Peay State University alumnus Jeff Hardin, and she was immediately struck by the simple power and beauty of his words.

“Jeff Hardin is extremely sophisticated, mature and knows exactly what he is doing,” she said.

Derricotte, a member of the Academy of American Poets’ Board of Chancellors, recommended the unpublished manuscript to Jacar Press, and in 2012, the press released Hardin’s newest collection of poems, “Notes for a Praise Book.” At 8 p.m. on Feb. 6, both poets will visit APSU for a reading and book signing in the University’s Morgan University Center Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.

Derricotte is the author of five collections of poetry, including the Paterson Poetry Prize-winning “Tender.” In 1997, W.W. Norton published her memoir, “The Black Notebooks,” which won the Anisfield-Wolf Award for Non-Fiction and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She is a professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh.

Hardin graduated from APSU in 1990, and he went on to earn his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alabama. In addition to “Notes for a Praise Book,” he is the author of two chapbooks, “Deep in the Shallows” and “The Slow Hill Out,” and the 2003 Nicolas Roerich Prize-winning collection “Fall Sanctuary.” Hardin is a professor of English at Columbia State Community College.

For more information on this reading, contact Susan Wallace at wallacess@apsu.edu.