Gianna Hayes
News Editor
On April 9, at 4 p.m., the English department hosted Ruth Awad for a poetry reading and Q&A session at The College of Wooster Art Museum (CWAM). Awad read from her recent book of poetry, “Outside the Joy” (Third Man Books, 2024), touching on her background as a Lebanese-American disabled poet. Residing in Columbus, Awad has a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in poetry from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She has previously hosted workshops for a variety of universities and more recently served as a visiting professor for the Ohio State University Creative Writing MFA program.
Awad previously published “Set to Music a Wildfire” (Southern Indiana Review Press, 2017), and co-edited “The Familiar Wild: On Dogs and Poetry” (Sundress Publications 2020). Additionally, Awad has won many awards, most notably the 2016 Michael Waters Poetry Prize and the 2018 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. Her poems have appeared in many anthologies and literary magazines, most recently featured in “You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World,” edited by former U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón.
The event was catered by Panera and funded through the Donaldson Fund for Creative Writing. Marlo Starr, assistant professor of English, introduced Awad and facilitated the event. Awad’s books were available for purchase and students had the opportunity to get them signed immediately following the reading. The staging of the event in the CWAM coincided with Weiting Wei’s exhibition “Inner Power.”
Students and professors gathered in the art gallery, filling almost all the seats. Starr began the event by introducing Awad and providing reflection and notes on some of Awad’s recent poems. Awad then took to the microphone to share her work and provide context. Some of her poetry spoke to her Lebanese background, as her first book of poetry was written through interviews with her father — providing insight into the Lebanese Civil War and his immigration experience. Other poems touched on the importance of family, sisterhood and complex relationships with Awad’s mother and sister. Awad is also very open about her love of dogs, and one poem was dedicated to her first Pomeranian rescue, Pete. Additional poems she shared touched on her chronic illness, navigating disability and mental health. Many students lingered after the reading and Q&A session to speak with Awad and get their books signed.
