Award-winning poet reads work at Centre RELEASED: Mar. 12, 2001 DANVILLE, KY - The Centre College English Program will sponsor a poetry reading by award-winning poet Allison Joseph. The free event will take place on March 22 at 8 p.m. in the Norton Center Board Room on the Centre College campus. Allison Joseph is the author of three poetry collections: What Keeps Us Here, Soul Train, and In Every Seam. Joseph's poetry appeals to broad audiences because of her accessible style and use of humor. Her most recent collection of poems, In Every Seam, focuses on childhood and growing up. She writes about childhood concerns such as her Barbie doll and Barbie's relationship to her little sister, Skipper, as well as the mysterious readership of the "Archie" comics. Referring to herself as a "pop-culture diva," Joseph says, "I'm both in love with popular culture and critical of it. It's a source both to embrace and make fun of." Originally from London and born to Caribbean parents, Joseph grew up in Toronto, Canada and the Bronx, New York. She holds degrees from Kenyon College and Indiana University. Joseph is currently associate professor at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, where she also serves as poetry editor for Crab Orchard Review. She has received fellowships from the Sewanee and Bread Loaf Writers' Conferences, an Illinois Arts Council Grant, and an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award. She recently won first place in the year 2000 poetry contest sponsored by So to Speak: A Feminist Journal of Language and Art, published at George Mason University. She is founder and director of the Young Writers Workshop, a residential writing workshop for high school students held at Southern Illinois University. Her work has appeared in many anthologies including The New Young American Poets, American Poetry: The Next Generation, Giant Steps: The New Generation of African American Writers, and others. - end -     Communications Office Centre College 600 W. Walnut Street Danville, KY 40422