ANDOVER, Mass.—Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins will read his poetry at 7 p.m. Friday, May 7, in Kemper Auditorium, Chapel Avenue, on the Phillips Academy campus. The event, open to the public free of charge, is sponsored by the Sandra Isham Vreeland Fund and the Phillips Academy English department.

Collins, described as “an American phenomenon,” combines high critical acclaim with broad popular appeal. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review and The American Scholar. Appointed U.S. Poet Laureate 2001-03, he is also a Guggenheim fellow and a New York Public Library “Literary Lion.”

He has published seven collections of poetry, including Questions About Angels, The Art of Drowning and Picnic, Lightning. His last three collections have broken sales records for poetry. The typical Collins poem opens on a clear and hospitable note, but soon takes an unexpected turn. Poems that begin in irony may end in a moment of lyric surprise. Collins sees his poetry as “a form of travel writing” and considers humor “a door into the serious.”

A resident of Somers, N.Y., he is a professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York.