People from more than 100 miles away will be coming to Syracuse University to see Wednesday’s University Lectures speaker, two-time poet laureate Billy Collins.

Collins will speak at Hendricks Chapel at 7:30 p.m. Esther Gray, coordinator of University Lectures, said that the event is anticipated to have a “huge audience.” She said she expects the event to be one of the “most terrific events” University Lectures has ever hosted.

Collins, a two-time poet laureate and author of several best-selling books, is known for his humor and humbleness, Gray said.

“I think the best part of the evening will be the laughter. Collins makes people laugh and we can all use an evening to sit back, relax, and laugh… or at least smile,” she said in an email. “He is an amazing poet, known around the world, but he is a regular person — he is you or I or one of our community.”

She added that buses from places as far away as Watertown and Buffalo will be commuting to Syracuse for the lecture.

George Saunders, an English and textual studies professor and well-known short story author, said he was a fan of Collins’ writing because of his work as a poet, which he described as “funny and deep.”

“The thing I love about Billy’s work is how communicative it is.  You sit in his audience and feel he is speaking directly to you, to your actual experience,” he said in an email.

Bruce Smith, an English and textual studies professor who specializes in poetry, said he admired Collins because of his clarity and intimacy with readers. He added that Collins provides attention and generosity to the readers in his poems.

“[Collins] says somewhere that writing poetry is like seeking the love of strangers,” Smith said in an email. “That is what happens, we, as strangers, have been allowed to wander and experience his language in a way that is now more true and stranger as the poem ends.”

 Gray, the lecture series’ program coordinator, said Collins’ appearance will be an exciting event and added that this lecture would “never have happened a few years ago.”

Because of the high capacity crowd anticipated for the lecture, Gray said she advises those interested in going to arrive 30-45 minutes prior to when doors open.

She said Collins will be available to sign autographs for attendees after the lecture but they will not be allowed to take photos with the poet.

Published on October 30, 2013 at 12:45 am

Contact Marlena: meahearn@syr.edu