The author of Dangers, published in 1978 in Houghton Mifflin's New Poetry Series, and A World of Difference, also a Houghton Mifflin publication (1981), Heather McHugh is a rare poet, known for her formal elegance, her piercing wit, and her supple use of rhyme and rhythm. The Denver Quarterly remarked on her interest in "seeing doubly and double-talking" and praised her "passionate intelligence" and "affection for the tongue's intimate intricacies." McHugh's Thursday evening reading will conclude the 1981 Literary Festival.

McHugh grew up in Williamsburg and now teaches at the State University of New York at Binghamton. She is a member of the board of directors of the Associated Writing Programs. [extracted from 1981 brochure]