U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith will be reading from her latest collection Wade in the Water (Graywolf Press) at Labyrinth Books on Monday, May 7 at 6 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.

According to The New York Times, “Smith’s new book is scorching in both its steady cognizance of America’s original racial sins … and apprehension about history’s direction …. These historical poems have a homely, unvarnished sort of grace.”

Says Harper’s: “[Wade in the Water] considers the state of the union with characteristic grace …. Smith holds this chorus together quite beautifully, often embedding contrasting fragments of text and tone in classical forms and schemes.”

Tracy K. Smith is the author of three previous books of poetry: The Body’s Question; Duende; and Life on Mars, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. She is also the author of a memoir, Ordinary Light, which was named a finalist for the National Book Award. In 2017, she was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States. She is professor of the Humanities and Director and Professor of Creative Writing at Princeton University.