Former poet laureate reading at University of Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Former Kentucky Poet Laureate and eastern Kentucky native Lee Pennington will read from his work next week at the University of Louisville to celebrate National Poetry Month.

Pennington will read from "Songs of Bloody Harlan," which was published in 1975.

In the 1960s, Pennington taught creative writing at Southeast Community College in Harlan County and published his students’ poems about their lives in Harlan County in the book "Tomorrow’s People."

U of L says the publication of "Tomorrow’s People" generated controversy, and Pennington faced threats and was fired from his job.

Pennington used that experience to honor his former students in "Songs of Bloody Harlan."

The reading is at 2 p.m. EDT April 14 in Ekstrom Library’s Archives and Special Collections.

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