Thai-American poet to read from his work Wednesday, Oct. 9

Ira Sukrungruang, a first-generation Thai-American poet, will read from his work Wednesday, Oct. 9, at Ripon College. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the MLK Lounge, Harwood Memorial Union, on the campus. It is free and open to the public.

Sukrungruang was born and raised in Chicago. He is the author of several memoirs, including Southside Buddhist and Talk Thai: The Adventure of Buddhist Boy. He also has a short story collection called The Melting Season and a poetry collection called In Thailand It Is Night.

He has been featured in literary journals such as The Sun, Post Road and Creative Nonfiction. He also has won several awards and fellowships, such as the 2015 American Book Award, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Arts and Letters Fellowship and the Emerging Writer Fellowship.

Sukrungruang also is one of the founding editors of Sweet: A Literary Confection, an online journal for creative nonfiction and poetry. He is the Richard L. Thomas Professor of Creative Writing at Kenyon College.

The program is presented by the Ripon College Visiting Writers Series and the Schang Family Visiting Writer Fund.