Don't miss: Beat icon Gary Snyder joins program honoring
Shaman Drum owner

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gary Snyder and fiction writer Andrea Barrett, who won the National Book Award, will read together at 7:30 p.m. March 6 at Rackham Auditorium.

Gary Snyder (Photo courtesy Gary Snyder)

The event is part of a two-day program to honor Karl Pohrt, founder and owner of Shaman Drum Bookshop on State Street just off the Diag.

U-M is hosting the "Writing in Public" conference March 6-7. The public is invited to panel discussions and author readings.

Three panels featuring national and local experts are scheduled for March 7 on subjects near to Pohrt's heart — literary publishing, writing in the schools and transforming books into films. These panels are scheduled from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. in the Michigan Union.

"For 27 years, Karl Pohrt has provided an unparalleled center for literary and community life in Ann Arbor," says Linda Gregerson, conference co-organizer and English professor. "It is time ... for an expression of our gratitude."

Pohrt's contributions include hosting hundreds of readings and book signings, free and open to the public, by well-known and up-and-coming authors, editors and illustrators.