FARMINGTON —The University of Maine at Farmington is excited to present poet Isabel Neal as the second reader of the 2026 spring semester schedule of its popular Visiting Writers series.
A poet and educator, Neal was awarded the 2025 Yale Younger Poets award, selected by poet Rae Armantrout. Neal’s award winning collection, “Thrown Voices” (Yale University Press, 2026), investigates seemingly contradictory themes of beauty and the unseen, contact and the mysterious. Her work has been lauded as curious, sharp, and strange.
Neal will read from her work at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 26 in the Landing in the UMF Olsen Student Center. The reading is free and open to the public and will be followed by a book signing with the author.
Of her collection, Rae Armantrout writes, “Patient observation is one of her gifts. Not the only one either. The word choices in these lines are fresh and striking…. She attends to the inner and outer worlds.”
Neal’s work appears or is forthcoming in Waxwing, The Yale Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Poem-a-Day and elsewhere. She was a 2024 Lighthouse Works Fellow (Fishers Island, NY) and has been the recipient of fellowships and grants from Haystack Open Studio (Deer Isle, ME), the Rackham International Institute (Ann Arbor, MI) and the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center (Provincetown, MA).
Neal holds an M.F.A. in poetry from the University of Michigan and lives in southern Maine.
“Thrown Voice” is available at the reading and for pre-purchase at the University Store on the UMF campus and Devany, Doak and Garret Booksellers.
The Visiting Writer Series is sponsored by the UMF Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program.
As the only Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program in the state of Maine and one of only two in all of New England, the UMF program invites students to work with faculty, who are practicing writers, in workshop-style classes to discover and develop their writing strengths in the genres of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Small classes, an emphasis on individual conferencing and the development of a writing portfolio allow students to see themselves as artists and refine their writing under the guidance of accomplished and published faculty mentors.
Students can pursue internships to gain real-world writing and publishing experience by working on campus with The Sandy River Review, a student-run literary magazine; or The Farmington Flyer, a university newspaper.
A nationally recognized regional public university, the University of Maine at Farmington is known for its commitment to teacher preparation, the creative arts, health and science, environmental studies, business and public service. Located in the heart of Maine’s four-season outdoor recreational region, UMF provides a challenging but welcoming academic community — here in Farmington and online — that prepares students for enriching professional careers, engaged citizenship and an enduring love of learning.
