Poet Martha Collins reads from Blue Front, her book-length poem based on the lynching her father witnessed as a child in 1909, and from White Papers, the subsequent volume that explores what it means to be “white” in a multi-racial society, at Smith College’s Stoddard Hall on November 13, 2012.
Founder of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Collins spent 10 years as Pauline Delaney Professor of Creative Writing at Oberlin College and is currently an editor of the Oberlin College Press in addition to serving as editor-at-large for FIELD magazine.
Her honors include fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Bunting Institute.
Born in Omaha, Neb., Collins earned her bachelor’s degree at Stanford University and doctorate from the University of Iowa. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.