Award-winning poet and essayist Ross Gay will deliver the 25th annual Emily Dickinson Lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 16, in Paterno Library’s Foster Auditorium on the University Park campus. The lecture, which will include readings from Gay's works and a Q&A session, is free and open to the public.

Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. In addition to his poetry, Ross has released three collections of essays—The Book of Delights was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller; Inciting Joy was released in 2022, and his newest collection, The Book of (More) Delights was released in September of 2023.

The Emily Dickinson Lectureship in American Poetry is made possible through the generosity of Penn State alumni George and Barbara Kelly, with additional support provided by the Penn State Department of English. Additional information about the Dickinson Lecture and other 2025-26 events hosted by the department can be found at creativewriting.psu.edu.