Downtown Central Library Hosts National Poet Laureate

Tracy K. Smith, the poet laureate of the United States, will discuss her life and poetry, and read from her works at the Downtown Central Library Friday evening.

“I feel like a poem draws us, draws me, into a quieter space, a decibel level that sits below the register of the media that we live with, Smith said shortly after being named poet laureate a year ago, according to a release from the library.

Smith is director of the creative writing program at Princeton University. Her latest book is “Wade in the Water.” She also is the author of a memoir, Ordinary Light, and three previous books of poetry including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Life on Mars.

A reception for “An Evening with Tracy K. Smith” will be at 6 p.m. with the program beginning at 6:30 p.m. You can RSVP here.

Her visit to Kansas City is co-presented by the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts and the City of Kansas City’s Office of Culture and Creative Services.