The College of the Florida Keys (CFK) invites the community to participate in its second CFK Poetics virtual event of the series on April 29 at 6 p.m. Nationally acclaimed poet Ross Gay will read his work and take questions from the audience. The free event will be primarily virtual. However, limited seating will be available in the CFK Library to view the live stream of the reading. Information to access the virtual events can be found on the College’s website at CFK.edu/poetics.

Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His new poem, Be Holding, was released from the University of Pittsburgh Press in September of 2020. His collection of essays, The Book of Delights, was released by Algonquin Books in 2019.

The goal of the CFK Poetics series is to connect the Florida Keys community and CFK students with poets whose work illustrates the critical intersections and changing landscapes and examines the social, psychological, and environmental changes that working-class residents in a tourist destination can identify with and by which they can be inspired.

Funding for CFK Poetics was provided through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the Florida Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.