Arisa White Submitted photo by Caitlin Penna

The University of Maine at Farmington’s Visiting Writers Series will present award-winning poet Arisa White as the popular program’s final reader of the season at 7:30 p.m., on Thursday, April 6, in The Landing in the UMF Olsen Student Center. The reading is free and open to the public and will be followed by a book signing with the author.

White’s heart-wrenching poetry memoir “Who’s Your Daddy” is a coming-of-age journey featuring a queer, Black, Guyanese American woman navigating the estranged relationship with her father. 
Poet Terrance Hayes calls White’s book a “‘maze that bobs and weaves a new style whenever there’s a demand to love.”

White is a recipient of many awards and accolades including the inaugural Per Diem Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the 2013 Wheatley Book Award. Her collection “You’re the Most Beautiful Thing That Happened,” was nominated for the 29th Lambda Literary Awards. She is a Sarah Lawrence College alumna, MFA graduate from the University of Massachusetts, a Cave Canem Fellow, and an associate professor in English and Creative Writing at Colby College.

“Who’s Your Daddy” is available for purchase at the UMF University Bookstore and at Devany, Doak, and Garret Booksellers.

The Visiting Writer Series is sponsored by the UMF Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program.