Description
Matthew Tuckner, the winner of the 2026 Levis Reading Prize for his debut full-length poetry collection The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Four Way Books, 2025.) reads from his book.
Through fifty-three poems that share the same title, Tuckner creates a landscape that compels readers to navigate philosophy, history and ecological collapses hand-in-hand with the vast expanses of private grief and longings. The poems capture contemporary and ancient catastrophes with a vividness that is electric, often surprising and deeply distinct to Tuckner’s voice. Erick Verran notes in The Hopkins Review, ‘The funny thing about Tuckner’s attention is that it manages to be at once logical and comic.’ Commending the collection’s intricately juxtapositioned worlds, Catherine Barnett describes reading The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 'like listening to someone record the apocalypse happening in real time in language so charged and with images so vivid you might forget the apocalypse is here.’
The event is free and open to all and will be held in person but will also be live streamed through Zoom. The in-person location will be James Branch Cabell Library, Room 303, 901 Park Ave., Richmond, Va. 23219. Parking is available for a fee in the West Broad Street, West Main Street and West Cary Street parking decks.
Please register to attend in person or online. For questions or accommodations, please contact the VCU Libraries Events Office at rbpander@vcu.edu or (804) 828-0593.
Registration
Registration information is forthcoming.
About the Author
Matthew Tuckner received his MFA in Creative Writing at NYU and is currently a PhD student in English/Creative Writing at University of Utah, where he is Managing Editor of Western Humanities Review. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, The Nation, Kenyon Review, and Best New Poets, among others. His upcoming poetry collection, Cloud Chamber, is also set to be published by Four Way Books in 2028.
Sponsors
The Levis Reading Prize is presented on behalf of VCU's M.F.A. in Creative Writing Program. Sponsors include the VCU Department of English, VCU Libraries, Barnes & Noble @ VCU and the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences.