Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center Celebrates World Poetry Reading

Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center presents the World Poetry Reading, a celebration of poetry from around the globe, on Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 317 at the Kent Student Center. The event is free and open to public.


The event, co-sponsored by Kent State’s Office of Global Education, will feature 12 readers from places such as Hungary, Syria, Colombia, Jordan, Georgia, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Russia, Germany, China and Saudi Arabia. They will share poems from their home countries.


“Poetry is a very special form of communication, and I think it encapsulates a lot of different people’s identities,” said Marcello Fantoni, Ph.D., associate provost for the Office of Global Education at Kent State.

“Having them read poems in their languages from their countries could lead to a deeper form of communication among them, and that’s an interesting experiment. It is a way to know each other personally and as representatives of their culture.” 


Gyorgyi Mihalyi, a featured reader from Hungary and international programming assistant for Kent State’s International Student Scholar Services and the Office of Global Education, said she is very excited to share her poem in Hungarian.

“It is going to be a great way for other students and the audience to have a little peek into my culture, and I am excited to speak in Hungarian to people who have never heard a Hungarian poem before,” Mihalyi said.


The event is a culmination of a series of workshops held in the Office of Global Education and led by Kent State English-as-a-second-language instructor Pete Grapentien, under the leadership of Nicole Robinson, the Wick Poetry Center’s outreach manager.


“When we first conceived of this reading, we never guessed that it would attract such a diverse group of student readers,” said Jessica Jewell, program manager for Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center. “I am absolutely thrilled that so many of our amazingly creative international student poets are going to share poems from their home countries.”


An open reading session and reception will follow the featured readers where community members can read from their favorite international or original poem in any language.


For more information about other Wick Poetry Center events, visit www.kent.edu/wick/readingseries.

Photo Caption:
Natasha Rodriguez-Carroll is one of the featured speakers at the Kent State University Wick Poetry Center's World Poetry Reading on Nov. 21.


Media Contacts:
Jessica Jewell, jjewell2@kent.edu, 330-672-2067
Bob Burford, rburford@kent.edu, 330-672-8516