Event | Special Events Live! At The Library: Mary Oliver Memorial Reading

For the second annual reading, highlighting emerging poets writing on the natural world, bestselling poet and writer Aimee Nezhukumatathil will read with emerging poets Ariana Benson and Robin Walter. A moderated discussion and book signing will follow.

Attendees are also encouraged to visit “Mary Oliver: Poet of the Natural World,” a small, curated display in the Jefferson Building’s Great Hall. This display is devoted to Oliver and highlights materials from the Mary Oliver Papers, housed in the Library’s Manuscript Division.

Ariana Benson’s debut poetry collection, "Black Pastoral," won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the 2024 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets. A Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellow, she is also the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Furious Flower Poetry Prize, and the Graybeal-Gowen Prize for Virginia Poets. Benson facilitates creative writing and storytelling workshops for students at historically Black colleges and universities.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the book of food essays "Bite By Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees" and the New York Times best-selling illustrated collection of nature essays, "World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks & Other Astonishments." She also wrote five previous poetry collections, including "Oceanic." Her honors include a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Pushcart Prize, a US Artists Fellowship, the North American Association of Environmental Education's 2024 Pepe Marcos-Iga Award for Innovation in Environmental Education and a Guggenheim fellowship in poetry. The poetry editor for Sierra magazine, Nezhukumatathil is professor of English and Creative Writing in the University of Mississippi’s MFA program.

Robin Walter is the author of "Little Mercy," which was selected by Victoria Chang as the winner of the 2024 Academy of American Poets First Book Award. Her poetry and essays have been featured in American Poetry Review, Poets.org, Seneca Review, West Branch, Wildness and elsewhere. She is an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University and lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.