DURHAM, N.H. - The University of New Hampshire's N.H. Authors Series brings poet Wesley McNair to campus Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010, at 2 p.m. in the 5th floor reading room of the Dimond Library.

McNair has written nine collections of poetry, two books of nonfiction, and edited six anthologies of poetry. His latest work is the newly released "Lovers of the Lost, New & Selected Poems." A memoir, "The Words I Chose" also has been recently released.

A New Hampshire native who has lived for many years in Mercer, Maine, McNair earned a master's in English and a master's in literature from Middlebury College. He studied American literature, art, and history at Dartmouth College, sponsored by a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship. He is a professor emeritusat the University of Maine at Farmington.

Among McNair's numerous awards in poetry are grants from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations and two National Endowment for the Arts grants for creative work. He recently read his poems at the Library of Congress and was selected for a U.S. Artists Fellowship as one of "America's finest living artists."

Hosted by the Friends of the Library and sponsored by the Dimond Library, the N.H. Authors Series is held three times a year, offering one-on-one conversations with authors who have ties to the Granite State. Yankee humorist Rebecca Rule serves as host and interviewer. Interviews are conducted in front of a live audience and recorded by New Hampshire Public Television for future broadcast.

The program is free, but seating is limited. The presentation is funded by the Lorus J. and Margery Milne Endowed Lecture Series on Literature and Environment.

To register, or for more information on the 2010-2011 season, call 603-862-1540 or visit www.library.unh.edu/friends. 

A photo can be downloaded at /unhtoday/sites/default/files/newsroom/img/wesleymcnair.jpg.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 11,800 undergraduate and 2,400 graduate students.

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