Seminar on aesthetics features Va. poet laureate

Old Dominion will host a seminar on aesthetics in education with featured speaker Grace Pow Simpson, Poet Laureate of Virginia, at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 18, in the North Mall of Webb Center.

Simpson will discuss the importance of aesthetics education at all levels of school and will read some of her poetry.

A resident of Hampden-Sydney, Simpson taught English for 15 years at Prince Edward County High School. She received her master's degree from Longwood College and is an executive committee member of the Poetry Society of Virginia.

Simpson's poetry has been published in a wide variety of literary magazines, including The Cincinnati Poetry Review, Cumberland Poetry Review and The Formalist. She has also published two collections of poems, "Dancing the Bones" (2001) and "Speech Lessons" (1993).

Simpson won The Rainmaker Award for Poetry in 1991. She was named Poet Laureate of Virginia by former Gov. Jim Gilmore in 2000.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information call 683-3928.