Former U.S. Poet Laureate to Read at Tulane

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Hass, who served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1995-1997, will read from his works at Tulane University"s Dixon Hall on Monday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a book signing.

Hass"s books of poetry include Field Guide, Praise, Human Wishes, and Sun Under Wood, as well as Twentieth Century Pleasures, a book of essays on poetry. Hass also translated many of the works of Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz and was the guest editor of the 2001 edition of Best American Poetry. His essay collection Now & Then, which includes his Washington Post articles, was published in 2007. His 2007 collection of poems, Time and Materials, won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Hass"s most recent book is The Apple Trees at Olema: Selected Poems & Essays, 1985-2009.

Hass is also an activist on behalf of poetry literacy and the environment. During his tenure as Poet Laureate, he battled American illiteracy while promoting awareness about environmental issues.

Hass, a professor of English at the University of California at Berkeley, has been awarded the MacArthur Genius Fellowship, the National Book Critics" Award (in both 1984 and 1997) and the Yale Series of Younger Poets in 1973.

Hass is the fourth visitor in Tulane"s Poet Laureate Series. Sponsored by the Creative Writing Fund of Tulane"s Department of English, the series has also brought Rita Dove, Louise Gluck and Billy Collins to campus.