WHAT: Robert Bly and Martin Espada will speak at separate events this May at the UW.

WHERE: Bly will present the 44th annual Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Reading at 8 p.m. in Roethke Auditorium (130 Kane Hall, UW Seattle campus).

Espada will speak at the second annual Reed-Osheroff Lecture, which has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 29, 7:30 p.m, 239 Savery Hall.

DETAILS: Bly has written more than 30 books of poetry, including "The Night Abraham Called to the Stars" (2001) and "The Light Around the Body" (1967), which won the National Book Award. One of his most popular books is "Iron John: A Book About Men" (1990).

The English department is sponsoring the evening with Bly. Additional information about him and a history of the Roethke Memorial Poetry Readings is available at the departmental Web site: http://depts.washington.edu/engl/.

The Reed-Osheroff lecture honors Bob Reed and Abe Osheroff, two Seattle-area veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a volunteer group of Americans who fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Osheroff will speak for a few minutes and answer questions.

Sometimes called the Pablo Neruda of United States poetry, Espada was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. to a Puerto Rican family. Committed to social justice, he writes about his heritage as well as experiences ranging from a job as a bouncer to life as a tenant lawyer. He has published 13 books as a poet, editor and translator. His eighth book of poems, The Republic of Poetry, was named one of the Best Books of 2006 by The San Francisco Chronicle.

Espada's poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Harper's, The Nation and Best American Poetry. His appearance is sponsored by Spanish and Portuguese Studies, the Department of English, the Office of Minority Affairs, the Department of American Ethnic Studies, Instituto Cervantes and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.

Admission to both events is free.

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For more information: Contact Tony Geist at (206) 543-2022 or tgeist@u.washington.edu; Linda Bierds at (206) 543-9623 or lbierds@u.washington.edu