Grace College’s Department of English, Literature and Languages is excited to welcome 1987 Grace College graduate Todd Davis back to campus for a poetry reading on Thursday, Oct. 2nd, at 7 p.m. at the Morgan Library, 921 Connection Circle, Winona Lake. Davis will read select poems from his book “Ditch Memory: New and Selected Poems,” and new poems. The event is free and open to the public. Cookies and coffee will be served, and copies of Davis’s book will be available for purchase.
“Todd Davis is one of the few poets in America actually writing ‘nature poems,’” said Dr. John Poch, professor of English at Grace College. “He is a poet who knows the environment, the natural world as God’s creation, the world we are to steward and to name, even from the beginning. What I like most about his poems is that they are not primarily political but essentially beautiful. Beauty is the aim.”
Davis is the inaugural reader in the department’s new Alumni Author Series, which the school will host every year.
“Many of our students go on to publish books after they graduate,” said Poch. “This is a great way for us to get the word out by bringing our graduates back to read from their work”.
Davis received his bachelor’s degree from Grace College in 1987 and currently teaches creative writing, environmental studies and American literature at Penn State Altoona.
Since his graduation, Davis has written eight collections of poetry, a few of them titled “Coffin Honey,” “Native Species,” and “Winterkill.” Some of his poetry has been included in newspaper columns, like “The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry.” His poems have won a variety of awards, like the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize and the Midwest Book Award. More than 400 of Davis’s poems are included in magazines and journals such as the “American Poetry Review” and the “Indiana Review.”
“I discovered Todd Davis through his collection, ‘Winterkill,’ which is a masterclass in beautiful but unsentimental nature poetry,” said Dr. Lauren Rich, chair of the Department of English, Literature, and Languages. “We’re so pleased to celebrate the literary achievements of our graduates like Todd and to share their work with the Grace community.”
The poetry reading kicks off Grace College’s Homecoming Weekend festivities and is sponsored by Janet Vesa.
To learn more about Todd Davis, go to todddavispoet.com/about.html.
