NEWS from
CENTENARY COLLEGE OF LOUISIANA


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (4/98)
Contact: Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service
318-869-5120 or 869-5709

Chemist and Poet Peppino Vlannes, Former Shreveporter, to Speak on 'Poetry and Autobiographical Writing' during Public Lecture Friday, April 10 at Centenary During National Poetry Month

Note: Poet T. S. Eliot called April "the cruelest month" but The Academy of American Poets has made it National Poetry Month. President Bill Clinton has promised to join in by reading his favorite poem on April 22.

SHREVEPORT, LA -- Former Shreveporter Peppino Vlannes, poet of Fairfax, Va., will speak on "Poetry and Autobiographical Writing" on Friday, April 10 at Centenary College.

Hosted by the Writer's Group of the Centenary Senior Adult Program, Vlannes will speak from 10:30 to noon in Kilpatrick Auditorium, located in the R. E. Smith Building. The event is free and open to the interested public.

Vlannes, a former chemist with NASA and the U.S. Army, is a member of the Hall of Fame of the International Poetry Society. He is a 1948 graduate of Centenary who earned his degree in chemistry but was urged by Chemistry Professor John Entrikin to continue to pursu,e his interest in poetry and writing. He grew up in Shreveport, where his family ran a confectionery in the 500 block of Texas Street.

Vlannes will present members of the Senior Adult Writing Class with a booklet offering a sampler of his poems.

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