A night of Poetry with the 2022 Woody English Distinguished Artists and Writers Chair: Reginald Dwayne Betts

Tuesday, July 26, 6pm at Edgewood Farm

Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet and lawyer, and the founding director of Freedom Reads. He is also a 2021 MacArthur Fellow. But on some fundamental level, what feels more significant than the awards that he has won or the books that he has published is that he’s helped get three men out of prison who he served time with and is working to get others out. His books include his latest poetry collection, Felon; the memoir, A Question of Freedom; and two previous collections of poetry, Shahid Reads His Own Palm and Bastards of the Reagan Era. In 2019, Betts won the National Magazine Award in the Essays and Criticism category for Getting Out, his New York Times Magazine essay that chronicles his journey from prison to becoming a licensed attorney. Dwayne holds a J.D. from Yale Law School.