TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Poet Barry Schwabsky will give a public lecture in 203 Garland Hall on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 6 pm., and will give the final reading of the fall 2006 Bankhead Visiting Writers Series in 301 Morgan Hall Friday, Nov. 17 at noon.

Schwabsky, a poet, curator and art critic, is the author of “Opera: Poems 1981-2002,” as well as three poetry chapbooks, and the critical study, “The Widening Circle: Consequences of Modernism in Contemporary Art.” He also has written several monographs on contemporary artists. His art criticism has been widely published in such magazines and newspapers as The London Review of Books, The Nation, and The New York Times, and his poems have appeared in Poetry, Shampoo, Octopus, and other magazines. He writes regularly for Artforum and other publications and has taught at New York University, Yale University and Goldsmiths College, University of London.

The talks are free and open to the public.

Schwabsky’s visit is sponsored by the UA department of art, the Program in Creative Writing and the Bankhead Visiting Writers Series. The Bankhead Visiting Writers Series is made possible by an endowment from the Bankhead Foundation, The University of Alabama’s Program in Creative Writing, the department of English and the College of Arts and Sciences. For more information, contact UA’s creative writing program at 205/348-0766 or visit http://www.as.ua.edu/english/08_cw/.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the “USA Today” Academic All American Team.