Poets Present Reading at Eastern

Written by Kate Harner

Willimantic, Conn. - Award-winning poets Geraldine Mills and Lisa Taylor, part-time professor of English at Eastern Connecticut State University, will present a reading of their newly released international collaborative collection, "The Other Side of Longing," at 7 p.m. on April 4 in the Student Center Theatre. Light refreshments and a book signing will follow the reading. The public is invited. Admission is free.

            Mills, who resides in Ireland, has published two collections of short fiction, "Lick of the Lizard" and "The Weight of Feathers," and four collections of poetry, including "Toil the Dark Harvest," "Unearthing Your Own" and "An Urgency of Stars." She has won the OKI Award, the Moore Medallion, the North Tipperary Award, the South Tipperary Award, a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship and the Aspire Short Story Competition. Mills was named the Millenium winner of the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune New Irish Writer Award.

            Taylor is the author of three collections of poetry, including "Falling Open" and "Talking to Trees." Her work has been featured in anthologies, literary magazines and journals such as "Cape Rock," "Healing Muse," "Midwest Review," "Pegasus," "Birmingham Poetry Review" and "Connecticut River Review." Taylor's poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. In 2009, Taylor was awarded a Surdna Arts Teaching Fellowship to travel to Ireland to explore its landscape and culture with Mills. Afterward, Mills traveled to Connecticut. "The Other Side of Longing" describes both authors' experiences in these different cultures.

            For more information on the reading, which is sponsored by Eastern's Visiting Writers Series and the Department of English, contact Miranda Lau at (860) 465-4570 or laum@easternct.edu.