US poet laureate Tretheway to present at SCF event

U.S. poet laureate Natasha Trethewey will spend a year in residency at State College Florida.
U.S. poet laureate Natasha Trethewey will spend a year in residency at State College Florida. | File photo

U.S. poet laureate Natasha Trethewey, the recipient of the 2016 Annette Dignam Hermitage/SCF Residency, is scheduled to speak at Thursday at State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota's Venice campus.

In addition to the national honor from the Library of Congress, Trethewey was chosen as state poet laureate for Mississippi. 

She spent 2013 traveling to cities throughout the U.S. to meet her goal of seeing how poetry is able to represent American culture. As part of her project, she has frequently participated in the PBS NewsHour Poetry Series.

The Annette Dignam Hermitage/SCF residency was developed using a fund from Key Agency, the Dignam family, and Englewood’s Gulf Coast Community Foundation. The Hermitage Artist Retreat also is involved in choosing the recipient for the year.

The purpose of the residency is to guarantee that each year there will be a nationally recognized writer on the SCF campus. The residency recipient will then give guest lectures and host workshops.

Trethewey’s first SCF event will be Thursday at 2 p.m. when she will read from her writing at SCF Venice, 8000 S. Tamiami Trail, Building 800, Selby Room. The public is welcome to attend.