Mississippi State’s Department of English hosts poet and Assistant Professor Samyak Shertok for a public reading from his debut collection “No Rhododendron” Monday at 5:30 p.m. in Forum Room 401, Griffis Hall.

A University of Pittsburgh Press publication, Shertok’s “No Rhododendron” was selected by acclaimed poet Kimiko Hahn for the 2024 Association of Writers and Writing Program Donald Hall Prize for Poetry.

“This debut collection is an absolute marvel,” Hahn wrote in a review, praising Shertok’s writing for fusing grief and survival into art.

“No Rhododendron” explores the haunting question of how to write about a language that has no script, while bearing witness to personal loss and collective trauma. As one early reviewer described, Shertok’s poetry “rises out of ash and walks toward us… shattered but gleaming.”

“I hope that those attending the reading will leave with an appreciation not only for the power and possibilities of poetry, but for the talent we have at MSU. Dr. Shertok is a brilliant poet and teacher, and we’re so fortunate to have him as part of the English department,” said Professor Becky Hagenston, who directs the department’s creative writing program.

Originally from Nepal, Shertok has published poems in The Cincinnati Review, The Gettysburg Review, The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, POETRY, Shenandoah, Best New Poets and other leading journals. A finalist for the National Poetry Series and the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, he has received fellowships from Aspen Words, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.

This event is free and open to the public, with a Q&A and book signing follow the reading.

For more information about MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of English, visit www.cas.msstate.edu and www.english.msstate.edu.