Carmen Germain, an English and literature professor at Peninsula College, will read from her newest collection of poetry at the college’s Foothills Writers Series on Tuesday, March 3. The reading will begin at noon in the college’s Little Theater, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles.

Germain published "These Things I Will Take with Me" in the fall of 2008. It is her first full-length book of poetry.

Since its publication, she has given a number of readings in the Pacific Northwest. This past December she read to the Ajiji Writers Group in Ajiji, Jalisco, Mexico.

Canadian author Rachel Rose wrote of the book: "Roaming from the Olympic Peninsula through the bear_tracked wilds of western Canada, conversing with great Italian painters as she travels Italy, Germain takes the reader on a journey that dazzles and disturbs. ‘April, Seattle to Missoula’ is a poem so urgently gorgeous that it has become part of my consciousness."

Rose read at Peninsula College’s Foothills Writers Series last year and is, herself, the director of a similar writers series in Canada.

Germain is also the author of a chapbook entitled "Living Room, Earth," which was published by Pathwise Press in 2002. When it was issued, New Hope International hailed Germain as "an accomplished and assured writer, her poetry rooted in lived experience." Main Street Rag praised her "keen imagery."

Germain’s work has appeared in two anthologies, "Proposing on the Brooklyn Bridge: Poems about Marriage" (published by Grayson Books), and "In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare," published by the University of Iowa. A third anthology containing her work "Daughters of the Land," is forthcoming from Texas Tech.

A native of rural Wisconsin, Germain has lived and worked in the Pacific Northwest for many years and has taught full time at Peninsula College since 1992. She is a co-director of the college’s Foothills Writers Series, an award-winning literary program that brings regional, national and international writers to the campus.

Germain is also the founder of the college’s annual Reading for Hunger initiative, part of the national Writers Harvest movement that each year raises money for local food banks to help avert hunger in communities all across the country. Proceeds from the local reading benefit the food banks in Sequim and Port Angeles.