Maria Melendez will give a poetry reading at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 1 in the Yost Room of the Goshen College Umble Center. Melendez's reading will include work from her recent book, _How Long She'll Last in this World_, published by the University of Arizona Press. Melendez teaches creative writing and American literature at Utah State University, and formerly taught at St. Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana. Joining Melendez for this reading will be Norman Minnick, author of _To Taste the Water_, which won an Academy of American Poets Prize in 2001. Minnick is the coordinator of the Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series at Butler University.

Melendez's poetry, fiction and essays appear in such magazines as _Barrow Street_, _International Quarterly_, _Isotope_, and _Ecological Restoration_, and her recent collection of poetry, _How Long She'll Last in This World_, was published in 2006 by the University of Arizona Press. The collection was awarded Honorable Mention at the 2007 International Latino Book Awards, and was named a finalist for the 2007 PEN Center USA Literary Awards.