MSU English faculty member takes flight with debut poetry collection
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Brett Hanley, an instructor in Mississippi State’s Department of English, will read from her debut poetry collection “I Was Your Bird” Oct. 27, 5 p.m., in Old Main Academic Center, Room 1030.
Free and open to the public, Hanley will host a question-and-answer session and book signing after the reading.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to celebrate 'I Was Your Bird' with the MSU community,” said Hanley. “I look forward to sharing my creative work and to the conversation that follows with students and colleagues.”
The 2026 JackLeg Press publication was a finalist for the Jake Adam York Prize and explores love, memory, identity and transformation, bringing together poems that consider relationships, childhood, history and the natural world while searching for connection and meaning. Hanley’s second collection of poems is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press in 2028.
Hanley holds a Master of Fine Arts from McNeese State University and a doctorate from Florida State University. She is a former poetry editor for Southeast Review and The McNeese Review and currently serves as a manuscript reader for Texas Review Press: The University Press of Sam Houston State University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous publications including West Branch, Gulf Coast, Ninth Letter, Colorado Review, The Journal and Poetry Northwest. She also has received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.
For more details about MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences or the Department of English, visit www.cas.msstate.edu or www.english.msstate.edu.
Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters.