Hugh Martin and Maggie Smith, a war veteran and an award-winning poet, respectively, will share from their published poetry chapbooks Tuesday.

Martin and Smith are the winners of the 2009 Wick Chapbook competition for Ohio poets. They will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Center room 306.

Martin served in the Army National Guard in Iraq in 2004. His work “So How Was the War?” won the chapbook competition in the student category. Martin’s work has also been published in CONSEQUENCE Magazine, the Army Times and the Nashville Review.

The chapbook contest is a venture of the Wick Poetry Center, which allows both students and non-students to submit unpublished work for the chance to be published in the Wick Chapbook Series, and winners are invited back to read at Kent State.

David Hassler, director of the Wick Poetry Center, said Martin’s service in the war gives his poetry an interesting perspective.

“Many of his poems are about his experiences in Iraq,” Hassler said. “So as a vet there is an added topical importance to his publication and to his reading.”

Smith is an award-winning poet whose chapbook “The List of Dangers” won in the non-student category of the Wick Chapbook competition.

Kent State University Press published Martin and Smith’s winning works in 2010.

Hassler said the reading would be useful for students who may be aspiring poets.

“It’s great exposure for Kent State students to see young, emerging writers that are often not much older than they are,” Hassler said.

Contact Kelly Tunney at [email protected].