Three Rhodes English Alums Return to Campus to Read Their Poetry

Three Rhodes College English alumnae—Christina LaPrease, Aisha Sharif, and Caki Wilkinson—will read samples of their poetry Sept. 17.

Free and open to the public, the reading begins at 7:30 p.m. in Blount Auditorium of Buckman Hall.

LaPrease, a 2006 graduate of Rhodes, earned an M.F.A. from Columbia University in 2008. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Beloit Poetry Journal, Black Warrior Review, and Painted Bride Quarterly, and her poems were recently adapted as part of collaborative performances for the Bowery Poetry Club and FluxConcert (2008). She lives in New York and works at the Academy of American Poets.

Sharif graduated in 2003 and received an M.F.A. in poetry from Indiana University, Bloomington where she also served as an associate instructor of creative writing. In 2006, she received the 2006 Touchstone Graduate Poetry Award. Her poetry has appeared in Muslim Wakeup!, Poemmemoirstory, Callaloo, and Touchstone Journal.

Wilkinson graduated in 2003 (Phi Beta Kappa) and earned an M.F.A. from Johns Hopkins University. She was the recipient of a 2008 Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. Her poems have appeared in the Atlantic, Poetry, Southwest Review, Yale Review and other journals. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in English at the University of Cincinnati.

The Rhodes Creative Writing Program is presenting the poetry reading, and those who have specific inquiries can contact the English Department at 901-843-3794.