An Evening of Poetry with Patricia Smith in Conversation with Chigozie Obioma | Lanier Reading Series

What happens when a poet enters into conversation with her own earlier selves? Please join the audience for this evening with acclaimed poet Patricia Smith, the 2025 National Book Award winner for The Intentions of Thunder, a 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry finalist, and recipient of the 2026 NAACP Image Award for Poetry. In The Intentions of Thunder, Smith boldly reimagines the “new and selected” collection, entering into dialogue with her earlier poems and transforming a career retrospective into an engagement with her earlier selves. The result is a deeply reflective and inventive look at a life in poetry—and the ways our past selves continue to speak to who we are becoming. Smith will read from The Intentions of Thunder before joining Chigozie Obioma, Helen S. Lanier Distinguished Professor, for a wide-ranging conversation about poetry, language, creativity, and the evolution of a poet's voice. A Q&A with the audience will follow the reading and conversation. The event is made possible with support from the Athens-Clarke County Library and the Willson Center. Copies of The Intentions of Thunder will be available for purchase from GHOST before the reading. A first-come, first-served queue for book signing will be available before the program begins. If you'd like to have a book signed, we encourage you to arrive early. As the Helen S. Lanier Distinguished Professor of English, Professor Chigozie Obioma brings writers of various genres to campus to speak and share their work with the university and the greater Athens community. The series is aimed to showcase writers with international reach and recognition who can inspire conversations around topics pertinent to their work. Learn more about the Lanier Reading Series here. Patricia Smith is the author of ten books of poetry, including The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems (Scribner 2025), winner of the 2025 National Book Award for Poetry, finalist for the 2026 Pulitzer Prize, and winner of the 20