Penn State alumnae and published poet Deirdre O'Connor has always loved writing, but it was during her time at Penn State that she realized she wanted to become a writer.

"Probably when I was in college, I knew that I wanted to write poetry," O'Connor said. "I discovered that even though I was busy, I still had time to write. I knew it was a central part of my life."

O'Connor credits her peers at Penn State for helping her develop her writing.

"I had a number of friends and colleagues who were good readers who introduced me to different work," she said. "It was useful to be part of a writing community. Like most people when they're in school, I just loved being exposed to different people's taste, learning about new poets, new fiction writers."

O'Connor said she also got experience teaching for the Penn State English Department.

O'Connor's writing process did not stop when she graduated. In fact, it was only the beginning. Since then, she has written for such magazines as Poetry and Hayden's Ferry Review.

"It's primarily lyric poetry, that has lately come a little more connected to nature," she said.

In 2001, she published her first book of poems, Before the Blue Hour, for which she won the Cleveland State Poetry Prize in 2001.

O'Connor will be reading selections from this book at 8 p.m. tonight in Foster Auditorium in Pattee Library, as a part of the Allegheny Mountains Reading Series.

The event is sponsored by the English department's Masters of Fine Arts program.

"Some of these poems I wrote many years ago while I was at Penn State," O'Connor said.

O'Connor said putting together the book has been a long process.

"Over the years, it's been a process of revising, adding and cutting, and being open to possibilities and seeing what poems work together," she said.

When she is not writing her own work, O'Connor can often be found helping others with theirs. She currently teaches in The Writing Center at Bucknell University.

"I work individually with writers, faculty and students," she said. O'Connor also helps train tutors.

MFA Director Julia Kasdorf said she is excited O'Connor is coming back to Penn State for this event.

"I was excited when her book won a prize. I really do like the book a lot. The poems deal with subject matter which is very interesting to me," Kasdorf said, noting O'Connor's ability to combine the concrete details of the real world with abstract, more spiritual issues.

"They're beautifully written," Kasdorf said.