A poetry reading will be the first of several events at Wichita State University, highlighting the centennial celebration of Gordon Parks’ birthday from 10 a.m.-noon Wednesday, March 7, in Rhatigan Student Center’s Fireplace Lounge.

Admission is free.

The reading by students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members, on the sixth anniversary of his death in New York City, will feature selected poems from the eight books of poetry written by Parks.

Parks, an acclaimed photographer, director, composer and author, was born on Nov. 30, 1912, in Fort Scott, Kan., and died March 7, 2006.

In 2008, Wichita State received the collected papers of Gordon Parks, which will become a valuable resource for researchers and scholars studying his career and for those interested in his life.

Twenty-nine of Parks’ photographs are housed in the university’s Ulrich Museum of Art collection.