George Looney, distinguished professor of English and creative writing, will read from his 16 books of poetry and prose, including his newest collection, “Ode to the Earth in Translation,” when the Smith Creative Writers Reading Series resumes at Penn State Behrend on Thursday, April 7. The reading, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 6 p.m. in the lobby of the Metzgar Center.

Looney’s 2020 story collection, “The Worst May Be Over,” won the Elixer Press Fiction Award. His new collection, “The Visibility of Things Long Submerged,” has won the BOA Editions Short Fiction Prize and will be published in the spring of 2023.

The Smith Creative Writers Reading Series is produced by Behrend’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program in creative writing — the only program of its kind at Penn State — with support from the Clarence A. and Eugenie Baumann Smith Fund. To learn more about the series, visit behrend.psu.edu/readings or call 814-898-6108.