The University of New Mexico Alumni Association, in partnership with D.H. Lawrence Ranch Initiatives with support from the Witter Bynner Poetry Foundation and the UNM Department of English Language and Literature, hosts the inaugural D.H. Lawrence Lecture featuring poet Mark Doty at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23 at the UNM Continuing Education Auditorium.

Doty is the author of nine books of poetry including “Deep Lane,” “Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems,” which won the 2008 National Book Award and “My Alexandria,” winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the T.S. Eliot Prize in the UK.

Doty is also the author of three memoirs including The New York Times – bestselling “Dog Years,” “Firebird” and “Heaven’s Coast” as well as a book about craft and criticism, “The Art of Description: World Into Word.”

This lecture series celebrates D.H. Lawrence, British novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, translator, literary critic and painter, whose genius was not truly recognized until after his death.

In an obituary, E.M. Forster named him, “The greatest imaginative novelist of our generation.” Lawrence’s dialog with nature, humanity and the human condition is revealed to us in the inimitable way in which he accesses language to delve deep into the human soul while preserving the mystery that is man/woman/nature.

The D.H. Lawrence Ranch, located north of Taos was left to UNM by Lawrence’s widow, Frieda Lawrence. The bequest specified that the property be used for “educational, cultural, charitable and recreational purposes.”

This Lobo Living Room presentation is free and open to the public. RSVPs are strongly encouraged. Check-in begins at 5:30 p.m. and Doty’s lecture begins at 6 p.m. followed by a book signing and complimentary dessert reception.

The UNM Continuing Education Auditorium is located at 1634 University Blvd. NE in Albuquerque. Parking is free and readily available. Attendees are asked not to park in the clinic or Masonic Lodge parking lots adjacent to the campus as cars can be towed, booted or ticketed in those areas. If the front and back parking lots at the Continuing Education Auditorium are full, free over-flow parking is located at 1642 University Blvd. NE, two lots north of the campus.

For more information and to RSVP, visit the Alumni website or call 505-277-5808.