BRADFORD, Pa. – Writer Lynnell Edwards, author of three full-length poetry collections, will visit the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Nov. 2. 

Edwards’ talk will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons. It is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. 

Edwards most recent book of poems, “The Bearable Slant of Light,” will be published in April by Red Hen Press, publisher of her three earlier collections, “Covet,” “The Highwayman’s Wife” and “The Farmer’s Daughter.” 

The new book deals with a loved one’s diagnosis of mental illness and documents a web of clinical assessments, medications and delusions. Her earlier volumes have examined desire, myths and tales and her Kentucky roots. 

Dr. Nancy McCabe, director of the creative and professional writing program, said that since she is teaching a poetry writing course this semester, she wanted to bring a visiting poet to campus. 

“But Lynnell is also accomplished in many other areas of the profession,” McCabe said, “particularly as an arts administrator and a book reviewer. She has a lot of wisdom and experience when it comes to writing about things that interest our students, in particular place and coping with issues surrounding mental illness in her family.” 

Edwards is a regular reviewer for Pleiades, Rain Taxi, and American Book Review, and her short fiction has been published in literary journals such as New Madrid and the Connecticut Review.  

She lives in Louisville, Ky., where she is associate professor of English at Spalding University. She received her doctorate in English at the University of Louisville, her undergraduate degree at Centre College in Kentucky, and is the recipient of a 2007 Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council. 

She is also associate director of Louisville Literary Arts. a non-profit literary arts organization which sponsors the monthly InKY reading series in Louisville, Ky., and The Writer’s Block Festival.