Poet, professor and four-time National Poetry Slam champion Patricia Smith will be the featured guest for the annual spring poet series at Oklahoma City University.
The Thatcher Hoffman Smith Poetry Series event, hosted by OCU鈥檚 Jeanne Hoffman Smith Center for Film & Literature, will take place March 31 in the Meinders School of Business auditorium. An open mic session for area poets will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a reading by Smith at 7:30 p.m. A book signing session will close the evening.
Admission to all events is free to the public. The auditorium is located at 2701 N. McKinley Ave.
The event offers a unique opportunity for the Oklahoma City literary community to engage with one of the most decorated voices in contemporary American poetry.
Smith is the author of 10 books of poetry, most recently 鈥淭he Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems鈥� (2025), which was awarded the National Book Award for Poetry. Her previous work includes 鈥淚ncendiary Art,鈥� winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award and the LA Times Book Prize, and 鈥淏lood Dazzler,鈥� a finalist for the National Book Award.
Beyond her extensive list of publications, Smith is a 2024 inductee into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame and a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Renowned for her performance as well as her prose, she remains the most successful individual champion in the history of the National Poetry Slam. Smith currently serves as a professor in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University.
Since 1999, the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Poetry Series has brought nationally renowned, award-winning poets to the OCU campus every spring. The series aims to bridge the gap between world-class literary talent and the local community through live readings, book signings and the open mic sessions showcasing local talent.
Copies of Smith鈥檚 books will be available for purchase at the event, courtesy of Full Circle Book Store.
