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poet Marilyn Nelson

Poet Marilyn Nelson most recently published the memoir “How I Discovered Poetry.” (Photo: Derek Dudek)

121614i Lesley reading seriesPoet Marilyn Nelson headlines a series of free evening readings that runs Jan. 2-9 at Lesley University.

The series is presented by the university’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing low-residency program, and features new faculty members that include Roland Merullo, author of “Taking the Kids to Italy”; Adrian Matejka, author of “The Big Smoke”; Christina Shea, author of “Smuggled”; Pamela Petro, who wrote “Sitting up with the Dead: A Storied Journey Through the American South”; and alumnus Jorge Armenteros, who wrote “The Book of I.”

But the Jan. 3 reading by Nelson is considered a highlight.

Nelson is a Frost Medal winner, a three-time National Book Award finalist and winner of the Newbery and Coretta Scott King awards. Last year, she published the memoir “How I Discovered Poetry,” a series of 50 poems about growing up in the 1950s in a military family, each poem stamped with a place and date from wherever home was at the time. Her young adult book, “A Wreath For Emmett Till,” won the 2005 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and in the next year was a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, Michael L. Printz Honor Book and Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award Honor Book.

“This will be our 12th January residency, and I’m particularly pleased by the diversity of our readers this year,” said Steven Cramer, director of the MFA program at Lesley University.

The events featuring poets, authors and playwrights take place in Lesley University’s Marran Theater, 34 Mellen St., in the Agassiz neighborhood between Harvard and Porter squares. Information on the readings is here, or call Jana Van der Veer at (617) 349.8369 or send email here.

This post was written from a press release.