The Tom Sanders Memorial Reading is an annual presentation in the Poetry Center's Reading and Lecture series. Established by the generosity of Tom's friends in 2017, this event features writers who were former students at the University of Arizona, writers who were formerly or currently members of the University of Arizona faculty, writers with strong ties to Southern Arizona, or University of Arizona Press authors. This year we are proud to present Richard Siken and Mathias Svalina.

Richard Siken is a poet and painter. His book Crush won the 2004 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize, selected by Louise Glück, a Lambda Literary Award, a Thom Gunn Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His other books are War of the Foxes (Copper Canyon Press, 2015) and I Do Know Some Things (Copper Canyon Press, 2025). Siken is a recipient of two Lannan Fellowships and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Mathias Svalina is the author of eight books, most recently Thank You Terror, published by Big Lucks Books. His first short story collection, Comedy, is forthcoming from Trident Books. Svalina was a founding editor of the small press Octopus Books. Since 2014 he has run a dream delivery service, traveling around the country to write & deliver dreams to subscribers.

Mathias Svalina will also be leading Dream History Tours of Tucson on October 25th and November 1st. 

In addition to the in-person reading, most Reading & Lecture Series events are streamed live on our website.