Poet, novelist and editor Kaveh Akbar will visit Knox College on May 22 as the college’s 2025-26 Metz Writer-in-Residence.
The Knox College English Department will host a public reception with Akbar at 4 p.m. May 22 in the Red Room of Seymour Library, followed by a reading. The event is open to the public.
Akbar is the author of the bestselling 2024 novel Martyr!, which follows an Iranian American man grappling with grief, addiction, faith and questions about meaning after the death of his parents. The novel was named one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 best books of the year and was shortlisted for the National Book Award.
In addition to fiction, Akbar writes poetry that explores addiction, recovery, spirituality, identity and loss. He is the author of the poetry collections Calling a Wolf a Wolf and Pilgrim Bell, along with the chapbook Portrait of the Alcoholic.
His work has appeared in publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review and The Atlantic. He has served as poetry editor for The Nation since 2020 and is the Roy J. Carver Professor of English at the University of Iowa.
Akbar is the second Robin Metz Writer-in-Residence. The residency honors the late Robin Metz, founder of Knox’s creative writing program and a faculty member for 50 years. It is supported by the Robin Metz Endowed Fund for the Creative Arts.
“Bringing writers to campus is among the best ways to refresh how we think of the craft of writing itself and the role of literature in the world,” said Nicholas Regiacorte, professor of English and director of creative writing at Knox. “Robin Metz always sought to renew our sense of why writing matters.”
