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World famous poet gives special reading at University – University of Reading

One of the world's most renowned poets, Paul Muldoon, will be taking part in a major poetry reading event at the University of Reading on Monday 19 January. Described by the Times Literary Supplement as "the most significant English language poet born since the Second World War", Professor Muldoon will be reading from a selection of his work at the annual Finzi Poetry Reading at the University. Professor Muldoon's recent awards include the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, the 2003 Griffin International Prize for Excellence in Poetry, the 1997 Irish Times Poetry Prize and the 1994 T.S. Eliot Prize. Dr Ronan McDonald, of the University's School of English and American Literature, which is hosting the free event along with the library, said: 'We are absolutely delighted that such an esteemed poet will be reading at the Seminar. 'Traditionally, the Finzi Poetry Seminar was given as a private reading for invited guests, but is this year being opened up to the general public for the first time in its 27-year history, partly in recognition of the high quality of speakers the event has continued to attract.' This Seminar is named after the English composer Gerald Finzi (1901-56), whose literature collection was deposited in the University Library by his family in 1974. Previous poets who have read at the event include John Fuller, Craig Raine, Bernard O'Donoghue, Tom Paulin, Jo Shapcott and current Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion. Paul Muldoon was born in 1951 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, and educated in Armagh and at the Queen's University of Belfast. From 1973 to 1986 he worked in Belfast as a radio and television producer for the BBC. Since 1987, he has lived in the United States, where he is now Howard G. B. Clark '21 Professor in the Humanities at Princeton University. In 1999, he was elected Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was given an American Academy of Arts and Letters award for literature for 1996. His main collections of poetry are New Weather (1973), Mules (1977), Why Brownlee Left (1980), Quoof (1983), Meeting The British (1987), Madoc: A Mystery (1990), The Annals of Chile (1994), Hay (1998), Poems 1968-1998 (2001) and Moy Sand and Gravel (2002). End Notes for editors VENUE: Room 109, Palmer Building, University of Reading Whiteknights campus. TIME: 6.30pm, Monday 19 January, 2004. ADMISSION: Free For further information, please contact Dr Ronan McDonald. Phone: 0118 378 7365 E-mail: r.d.a.mcdonald@reading.ac.uk