Author reads new poety collection

One Northern Michigan University professor teaches creative writing, and is a published poet.

Matthew Gavin Frank held a reading from his new poetry collection called ‘The Morrow Plots’ at the Peter White Public Library Thursday night.

The poems are centered around Illinois and other areas of the Midwest.  Frank chose the title ‘The Morrow Plots’, after a place he found researching odd Illinois landmarks as a child.

The collection has characters that weave in and out of the writings to connect the poems to each other.  A few poems take place looking over the Morrow Plots, a place that was a burial ground but now is a National Historic Landmark.  Frank uses his family as subjects in the poems too; one poem is about an imaginary boat ride he takes with his mother.

There was a book signing after the reading, as well as an opportunity to buy Frank’s books.

The library also hosted author William Durbin on Thursday, who writes historical fiction novels for middle school readers.  He had a book signing and a writing workshop.