WATERVILLE -- Poet and author Wesley McNair of Mercer will lecture at Colby College on Thursday on "My Life as a Poet."

The talk and slide show will begin at 4 p.m. in the Robinson Room in Miller Library and will feature materials from his collection of personal papers, now owned by Special Collections at Colby.

McNair's slide-lecture will include photographs, report cards, childhood books, letters, and manuscripts that show his development as a writer from past to present. He will also discuss the detours and discouragement of his writing life, the help he received from mentors, and his creative process, using drafts from writing notebooks.

McNair has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including poetry, essays and anthologies.