Environmental poet, essayist John Haines to read at Hamilton College on Earth Day, April 22, and on

Environmental poet and essayist John Haines will give two readings from his works at Hamilton College. The first will be on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, at 8 p.m. in the Chapel with a reception following. On Friday, April 23, he will give a reading followed by a discussion at 4:15 p.m. in Dwight Lounge, Bristol Campus Center. All events are free and open to the public.

Haines is the author of numerous collections of poems and critical essays, including the most recent, Fables and Distances, New and Selected Essays (1996); A Guide to the Four-Chambered Heart (1996); The Owl in the Mask of the Dreamer, Collected Poems (1993); and a memoir, The Stars, the Snow, The Fire (1989). A collection of early poems, At the End of This Summer: Poems 1948-54, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 1997.

In addition to two Guggenheim Foundation Fellowships for poetry and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship previously granted, Mr. Haines received a Literary Award in 1995 from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 1996, he was guest lecturer at the Annual Summer Wordsworth Conference in Grasmere, England. Recent academic appointments include those at Ohio University, George Washington University, and the University of Cincinnati. He occupied the chair in creative arts at Austin Peay State University in 1993, and in 1997, he was awarded the Annual Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets.

Haines homesteaded from 1954 to 1969 in Alaska. He currently lives in Helena, Montana.