Poet Gina Franco will read from her works at 8:15 p.m. Thursday, January 27, in Daugherty-Palmer Commons at St. Mary's College of Maryland as part of the VOICES Reading Series. The evening is free and open to the public.

 Franco is currently working on a manuscript of poems entitled Mother Lode about copper mining in Arizona. An associate professor of English at Knox College in Illinois, Franco has been published in many literary journals and is recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize from Smith College and in 2005 received special mention for the Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses award.

St. Mary's College of Maryland, designated the Maryland state honors college in 1992, is ranked one of the best public liberal arts schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. More than 2,000 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary's River in Southern Maryland.