The Single Voice Reading Series at Allegheny College will begin its 2016–17 season at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 29, with Professor Christopher Bakken presenting his work. The reading in the Tillotson Room of the Tippie Alumni Center is free and open to the public.
Bakken is the author of three books of poetry, most recently “Eternity & Oranges.” He is also the author of the culinary memoir “Honey, Olives, Octopus: Adventures at the Greek Table,” and he co-translated “The Lions’ Gate: Selected Poems of Titos Patrikios.” One of his poems was included “Best American Poetry 2016” anthology, released last week. A former Fulbright Scholar, Bakken serves as chair of the English department at Allegheny.
Other readers featured in this year’s series include Edward Hirsch, author of eight books of poetry and president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, on Oct. 20; memoirist Angela Palm on Nov. 17; poet Afaa Michael Weaver on Feb. 2; poet and essayist Jane Hirschfield on March 9; and Allegheny alumnus James Davis May, along with Chelsea Rathburn, on April 6.
The Single Voice Reading Series, sponsored by the John C. Sturtevant Memorial Lecturship and organized by Allegheny College’s English department, provides students with an opportunity to hear and meet nationally known writers. Previous readers have included John Updike, Carolyn Forché, Tobias Wolff, W.D. Snodgrass, Robert Olen Butler, Tim O’Brien and Mark Doty.