Erin Belieu was born and raised in Nebraska. Her first book, Infanta (1995), was a winner of the National Poetry Series and named a best book of the year by The Washington Post and Library Journal. Her second collection, One Above & One Below, was the winner of the Midland Authors Prize in poetry and the Ohioana prize, and Black Box, was a finalist in 2007 for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her newest volume, Slant Six, was released in 2014 from Copper Canyon Press. She is Director of the Graduate Creative Writing Program at Florida State University.

Lee Upton’s sixth collection of poetry, Bottle the Bottles the Bottles the Bottles, was chosen by Erin Belieu as the 2014 Open Poetry Book Competition winner from the CSU Poetry Center. Her poetry has appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Poetry, American Poetry Review, and in editions of Best American Poetry. She is the author of fourteen books, including the novella The Guide to the Flying Island; the essay collection Swallowing the Sea: On Writing & Ambition Boredom Purity & Secrecy; and four books of literary criticism. She is the Francis A. March Professor of English and Writer-in-Residence at Lafayette College.

This event will take place in Main Classroom 136 on CSU's campus (map above).