Book Notes: GU Writers Series hosts poet Eklund

Poet and Morehead State University professor George Eklund will be at Gonzaga University this week as part of the college’s Visiting Writers Series.

The Kentucky writer will talk in the Cataldo Globe Room at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. He’ll also participate in a question-and-answer session earlier in the day, at 1:15 p.m., in the Foley Teleconference Room on the GU campus. Both events are free.

Eklund, whose latest book of poetry, “The Island Blade,” was released a year ago, has an master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Iowa and has been at Morehead State since 1989.

For more information on the Visiting Writers Series, visit www.gonzaga.edu/readingseries. Check out some of Eklund’s work on his Facebook page, Poems from Willow Drive.

Multi-hyphenated kind of guy

Chris Cook is a busy guy. He plays trumpet with the Spokane Symphony. He teaches music at Gonzaga University. He’s a professional yo-yo demonstrator. (Really.) He’s a poet who participates in the Spokane poetry slam scene.

Now he has a new collection of poems out, “The View From the Broken Mic.” The slim, self-published volume contains works both brief and long, often whimsical and sometimes a bit twisted.

He’ll celebrate the book’s publication with a reading at Auntie’s Bookstore at 7 p.m. Friday. Auntie’s is located at 402 W. Main Ave.