GVSU Arts Celebration: Poetry Night with Tyehimba Jess (INT 100/201 Approved)

Thursday, October 16, 2025
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Robert C. Pew Grand Rapids Campus
Community, Staff

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tyehimba Jess is the author of two award-winning books of poetry, Leadbelly and Olio. Jess's poems operate in many modes from biography to lyric, from traditional structures to innovative forms of his own invention. His first book, Leadbelly, explores the life of the legendary blues musician Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter through a combination of personal and historical perspectives. His second book, Olio, is made of poems half-rooted in fact and half-rooted in fiction as it presents the lives of African American vaudeville performers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Occurring annually, GVSU Poetry Night has a tradition of bringing some of the most celebrated and distinguished poets to enlighten and entertain. It is one of the largest poetry reading series in the state thanks to the generosity of donors and the university, Poetry Night events are always free and open to the public.

Learn more about the artist.

Location Information

Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew (City) Campus

Contact Information

[email protected]

Hosting Department, Organization, or Business

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

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This event was added to the calendar by Kristen Krueger-Corrado (kruegekr@gvsu.edu) on Friday, August 22, 2025 and was last updated on Tuesday, September 2, 2025 at 4:22 p.m.