Peter Gizzi, one of the leading figures in contemporary American poetry, is among the poets who will present their works in the Clean Part Poetry Reading series this fall at Sheldon Museum of Art.

Now at home for a third year in the museum's Ethel S. Abbott auditorium, the monthly series showcases innovative poets from across the country. Anthony Hawley, who teaches in the department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has curated this fall's series.

The schedule and readers are:

Saturday, Sept. 13, 7 p.m. - Laynie Browne and Ange Mlinko

Thursday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m. - Peter Gizzi and Julie Carr

Saturday, Nov. 8, 7 p.m. - Katy Lederer and Kazim Ali

Saturday, Dec. 13 7 p.m. - Sasha Steensen, Eric Baus, The Pines

All programs are free an open to the public. Sheldons galleries will also be open these evenings beyond their normal hours.

A professor of creative writing at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Gizzi is the author of "The Outernationale, Some Values of Landscape and Weather," "Artificial Heart," and "Periplum and other poems 1987-1992." He has also published several limited-edition chapbooks, folios and artist books. His work has been translated into numerous languages and anthologized here and abroad.

His honors include the Lavan Younger Poet Award from the Academy of American Poets and fellowships in poetry from The Fund for Poetry, The Rex Foundation, Howard Foundation, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

He is currently the poetry editor for "The Nation," and is teaching at the University of Iowa Creative Writing Program this fall.

Julie Carr, who teaches at the University of Colorado, Boulder, will also read during the October program. She is author of "Mead: An Epithalamion," and "Equivocal." In addition to teaching she is a co-publisher of Counterpath Press.

Poets Laynie Browne and Ange Mlinko launch the 2008-2009 series in September. Browne's most recent collections are "The Scented Fox," recipient of the 2007 National Poetry Series Award, selected by Alice Notley (Wave Books), "Daily Sonnets" (Counterpath Books, 2007), and "Drawing of a Swan Before Memory," winner of the Contemporary Poetry Series (University of Georgia Press, 2005). Mlinko is the author of two books, "Matinees" (Zoland Books, 1999) and "Starred Wire" (Coffee House Press, 2005) which was a National Poetry Series winner in 2004, and a finalist for the James Laughlin Award.

Sheldon Museum of Art, located at 12th and R streets on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus, is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. For information or to arrange a tour, please call (402) 472-2461.

Additional information, including slide shows of this and other current exhibitions, is available on the Sheldon Web site, www.sheldon.unl.edu.