April 8: Creative Writers Reading Series George Looney, distinguished professor of English and creative writing at Penn State Behrend, will read from his work – including new collections of poems and short stories – when the Smith Creative Writers Reading Series resumes on April 8. The 6 p.m. program, which is free and open to the public, can be viewed on Zoom; a link and details are available at www.behrend.psu.edu/readings. Looney is the author of 12 books of poetry and three books of fiction. In 2020 he published two new books: “The Itinerate Circus: New and Selected Poems, 1995-2020” and “The Worst May Be Over: Stories,” which won Elixir Press’s Fiction Award. His other titles include “What Light Becomes: The Turner Variations,” which won the Red Mountain Poetry Prize, and the novel "Report from a Place of Burning," which was selected for the Leapfrog Press Fiction Award. He serves as translations editor at Mid-American Review and edits Behrend’s international literary journal, Lake Effect.