Language & Liberty: Poetry as Civic Inheritance with Tracy K. Smith

Saturday, April 11, 2026 | 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

$15.00 | Friedman Family Auditorium

History is never fully settled when the words that shaped it are still alive. Yet in an age marked by grief, division, and loss, America’s founding texts can feel distant, more like a closed archive than a living inheritance. Join Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith for an evening of poetry, reflection, and renewed listening.

Using her acclaimed poem “Declaration” as a jumping-off point, Smith invites us to engage the past through the lyric imagination, a mode of attention that opens space for nuance, feeling, and possibility. Through readings from her new book Fear Less and from new, unpublished poems, she explores how poetry can help us listen anew to our history, uncover voices long unheard, and imagine a wider field of what might still be possible rooted in the transformative power of words.

Program tickets include access to a light standing reception, book signing, and meet & greet following the program. For questions or concerns regarding accessibility needs, please contact [email protected].