CHESTERTOWN, MD—Poet and essayist Lia Purpura will read from her work Thursday, November 13 at 4:30 p.m. at the Rose O’Neill Literary House, 407 Washington Avenue.  This reading is part of the Literary House Series “Poets Writing the Lyrical Essay.”

Purpura is the author of three collections of poems — King Baby (2008), Stone Sky Lifting (2000), and The Brighter the Veil (1996). She also has published three collections of essays: Rough Likeness (2012), On Looking (published in 2006 and named a finalist for the National Book Critics’s Circle Award), and Increase (2000). In addition, Purpura translated two collections by the Polish poet Grzegorz Musial.

Known for taking on challenging and complex topics in a lyrical way, Purpura has been recognized with a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, three Pushcart Prizes, and multiple residencies and fellowships at the MacDowell Colony. A reviewer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune

praised her distinctive style this way: “Nobody writes about what Purpura does, and nobody writes like her — what more can a writer aspire to?”

Lia Purpura is a graduate of Oberlin College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.  She lives in Baltimore where she is a Writer-in-Residence at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 

The reading will be followed by a book sale and signing.