Literature-lovers in search of poetry readings in the Norman area should look no further than the OU campus.

The Mark Allen Everett Poetry Series will host Chicana poet Lorna Dee Cervantes on Tuesday at the National Weather Center Auditorium.

Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, assistant director of the Everett Poetry Series, said she is very excited about Cervantes’ visit.

“[When told] I could bring any poet I could manage to find funds for and that was enough remuneration, my choice was Lorna Dee Cervantes,” Mish said.

Cervantes is an internationally acclaimed and multi-award winning poet from San Jose, Calif. Her work is said to be derived from her personal, cultural struggles.

“Lorna Dee Cervantes is an amazing poet and a warm and engaging person,” Mish said. “Her poetry reflects her long-time commitment to social justice activism. Even people who don’t think they like poetry should come — Ms. Cervantes writes in a style that is both generally understandable and poetically powerful.”

The Everett Poetry Series began when Dr. Jonathan Stalling and Nancy Yoch came up with the idea for a new poetry reading series.

Stalling said their primary goal behind launching the series is to make poetry a more prominent part of life at OU and in the community.

“Secondly, I believe that poetry is first and foremost ‘sound in time’ and to enjoy its way of being in the world, the way it unfolds as art, is to hear it,” Stalling said.

Upcoming poets in the Everett Series include Hugh Tribbey, Oklahoma Poet Laureate Jim Barnes and Barbara Daniels.

Cervantes will read at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the National Weather Center Auditorium.

All Everett Poetry Series events are free.