A Cuban-American poet and author of The Cigar Roller will read from his work Thursday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m. in the Reeves Theater at The University of Tampa to kick off the 2007-2008 Writers at the University series. The readings are free and open to the public.

A native of Havana, Pablo Medina moved with his family to New York, where his culture shock was softened by countless visits to the New York Public Library. He has authored four collections of poetry, three novels, a memoir and a book of translations. Medina is on the faculty of The New School and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. His work has earned him an award from the CINTAS Foundation and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the Woodrow Wilson/Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest fund.

Second in the lineup is journalist and nonfiction writer Joe Mackall, author of Plain Secrets: An Outsider Among the Amish. Mackall is co-director of creative writing at Ashland University and is co-founder and co-editor of River Teeth: A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative. His work also has been featured on National Public Radio