The poet Suzanne Cleary will read from her work on Oct. 16 at Penn State Behrend as part of the Smith Creative Writers Reading Series. Credit: Photo provided. All Rights Reserved.
Behrend
Smith Creative Writers Reading Series
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM / October 16, 2025
The Smith Creative Writers Reading Series at Penn State Behrend continues Thursday, Oct. 16, with a reading by Suzanne Cleary, whose most recent collection of poems, “The odds,” won the 2024 Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award.
The reading, which begins at 6 p.m. in the lobby of Metzgar Center, is free and open to the public. A reception with Cleary will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Cleary’s books include “Keeping Time,” “Crude Angel” and “Beauty Mark,” which won the 2013 John Ciardi Prize for Poetry and the Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize. Her work also has appeared in Best American Poetry, Atlantic Monthly, Georgia Review and Southern Review, among other publications.
Cleary teaches in the master of fine arts in creative writing program at Converse College.
The Smith Creative Writers Reading Series is produced by Penn State Behrend’s creative writing program, which leads to a bachelor of fine arts degree. The program is the only one of its kind at Penn State.
To learn more about the series, visit the Reading Series webpage, or call 814-898-6108.