Literature comes alive this week for fans and writers alike as two authors visit The University of Memphis.
Poet Dave Smith will be on campus for three events Tuesday and Wednesday, and best-selling author Nick Hornby will speak at the Michael D. Rose Theatre Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Smith, author of more than 15 books of poetry and former editor of "The Southern Review," is visiting The U of M as part of the River City Writer's Series.
"He's one of the best known poets in the country," said John Bensko, associate professor of English and director of River City Writers Series.
Smith will read from his works at the Faulkner Lounge in the University Center Tuesday at 8 p.m. Also scheduled are an interview on writing and a poetry workshop on Wednesday in Patterson Hall where Smith will help student poets with their writing.
"I like to sit with students individually and speak with them as an editor would," Smith said. "I want to show students how to make their poems more marketable and successful."
As the former editor of "The Southern Review," Smith has a broad sense of American poetry because he has read so much of it, Bensko said.
"It's good that students be exposed to someone like Smith," he said. "He's not only a published author - he's got editorial experience."
That experience gives him the ability to show students what it takes to become a successful writer and "how to reach a reader quickly and directly," Bensko said, whose work Smith has edited in the past.
"He helped me pick out things I couldn't see in my own poems," Bensko said.
Student writers' self-assurance is just as important as his or her skill, according to Smith, because the publishing world isn't an easy one.
"I try to help (students) in specific textual ways, but I also try to show them how to sustain a level of confidence," Smith said.
Hornby, whose works include "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy," is also visiting The U of M. His interests in music, literature and sports emerge in his work in a way that stays connected to adult life and also affects the lives of students, according to Barbara Ching, associate professor of English and director of the Marcus Orr Center for the Humanities.
"Whenever I teach his books students really enjoy him," she said.
The event is sponsored by the Marcus Orr Center for the Humanities, the Department of Communication, the Fred Mertz Association and Sigma Tau Delta, international English honor society.
"He presents challenging material in a new way," said Sarah Beth Tyler, president of Sigma Tau Delta. "He uses his stories to reach a huge audience."
There will be a question and answer session as well as a book signing following Hornby's reading. This and all events with Smith are free and open to the public.
