Award-winning poet at SV Library

When The Library of Congress called Kay Ryan to offer her the post of U.S. Poet Laureate, she thought to herself, “I can’t have that many overdue books.” Ryan, a MacArthur Foundation’s Genius Fellow and the author of nine collections of poetry, quickly accepted, and served from 2008 to 2010. A year later, she won the Pulitzer Prize for “The Best of It: New and Selected Poems,” a body of work she described as “spanning 45 years, witty, rebellious and yet tender, a treasure trove of an iconoclastic and joyful mind.”

Of her work, the native of San Jose says she likes “to squeeze things until they explode”.

Ryan will visit the Sonoma Valley Library at 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 23. She will speak for about 45 minutes and answer questions for 15 minutes. Free, but seating is limited. 755 West Napa Street, Sonoma. 707.996.5217. Sonomalibrary.org.