A man whose poetry reflects feelings of deep roots in family and community will read his poems today.

David Baker will read selections of his poetry reflective of people and places in the Midwest at 4 p.m. in the Coleman Auditorium. The reading is sponsored by the English department and is part of the visiting writers series the English Department has been sponsoring since the late 1970s, said Bruce Guernsey, English professor.

“(Baker) is really interested in home and family,” Guernsey said. “He’s interested in the small things that make up life in a democracy. He has a real sense of community.”

Baker is a resident of Granville, Ohio, and is an English professor and the Thomas B. Fordham Chair of creative writing at Denison University. He is the author of “After the Reunion,” “Laws of the Land,” “Sweet Home” and, most recently, “Truth About Small Lands,” Guernsey said.

He was the winner of the 1991 Society of Midland Authors Award for Poetry, and his poetry and reviews have appeared in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine and The Paris Review, Guernsey said.

Baker was named a “poetry fellow” by the National Endowment for the Arts, and he serves as the poetry editor of the Kenyon Review and was named Poet of the Year by the Ohio Poetry Association in 1991, Guernsey said.