Distinguished Author Reception for Poet Camille T. Dungy April 16

Note to Reporters: A photo of Camille Dungy is available with this release at news.colostate.edu

Camille Dungy, professor of English at Colorado State University, will be honored at a Distinguished Author Reception April 16, 4-6 p.m., 108 Johnson Hall on the CSU campus. The reception is free and open to the public, and hosted by the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at CSU.

Copies of Dungy’s recent book, Smith Blue, will be available for purchase and refreshments will be served.

Smith Blue offers a survival guide for the modern heart as Dungy takes on 21st-century questions of love, loss, and nature. From a myriad of lenses, these poems examine the human capacity for perseverance in the wake of heartbreak; the loss of beloved heroes and landscapes; and our determination in the face of everyday struggles.

The poems explore the dual nature of our presence on the planet, juxtaposing the devastation caused by human habitation with our own vulnerability to the capricious whims of our environment. In doing so, they reveal with fury and tenderness the countless ways in which we both create and are victims of catastrophe.

In the end, the book demonstrates how we are all intertwined, regardless of race or species, living and loving as best we are able in the shadows of both man-made and natural follies.

For more information, go to http://www.camilledungy.com/Poetry.htm

-30-