W&L Presents Public Reading by Visiting Poet Eric Tran, a Vietnamese poet and author, will give a public lecture on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. in Northen Auditorium on the W&L campus.

By Erica Turman
October 13, 2021

Washington and Lee University presents a public reading with Eric Tran, a Vietnamese poet and author, on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. in Leyburn Library’s Northen Auditorium on the W&L campus.

During his lecture, Tran will read from his book “The Gutter Spread Guide to Prayer.” The event is free and open to the public. Masks must be worn by attendees per W&L COVID-19 guidelines.

Tran is also the author of “Mouth, Sugar, and Smoke.” He serves as poetry editor for Orison Press and a poetry reader for the Los Angeles Review. He has received awards and recognition from Prairie Schooner, New Delta Review, Best of the Net and others. His work appears in RHINO, 32 Poems, the Missouri Review and elsewhere. He is a resident physician in psychiatry in Asheville, North Carolina.

“Eric Tran writes big-hearted poems that encompass everything from prayer to anti-gay violence to comic books. His work as a resident physician of psychiatry, too, makes him a deeply interdisciplinary thinker in a liberal arts way, seeking answers to pressing questions from multiple angles,” said Lesley Wheeler, the Henry S. Fox Professor of English at W&L. “I’m so excited to bring him to campus and create opportunities for him to talk with our students.”

The talk is sponsored by the Glasgow Endowment, and a book sale will follow the reading.