The Department of English and Creative Writing will host a free public reading by Griffin-nominated poet D.M. Bradford on Thursday, Nov. 23, at 4 p.m. in the Leddy Library Collaboratory.

Bradford is a poet and translator, the author of Dream of No One but Myself, which won the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards and the Griffin Poetry Prize.

Thursday’s reading will feature works from Bradford’s second book, the poetry collection Bottom Rail on Top, which explores complex themes of legacy and self-identity through a blend of history and personal reflection.

Bradford dissects then reconstructs stories of Black life and emancipation before the Civil War, bringing about a tale of lineage and moments of mastery bound by paper trails and curiosities.