Villanova’s annual Literary Festival continued on Tuesday, March 10, with a visit from poet, editor and educator Maya C. Popa, who read from her work and spoke with students during her time on campus. 

During the semester-long festival, Villanova hosts major poets and fiction writers for readings and conversations with students. Popa is the third author to visit campus as part of the 2026 Literary Festival.

“I was talking to faculty poets about somebody they’d be interested in having come,” Professor and Literary Festival director Alan Drew said. “We had a list of people, and Maya was on that list.”

As part of her visit, Popa attended the afternoon session of the Authors On & Off the Page course. The class is taught by Drew and Professor Adrienne Perry, and students read the work of visiting authors and have the opportunity to ask questions when the authors come to class.

“Maya really is an awesome person to talk with,” senior and class member Ava Petrosky said. “I loved reading her collection of poems in class and then meeting her in person. She’s just so down to earth. She’s very real and very personable, and I just really enjoyed talking to her.”

Perry felt simlarly. “I really feel like when I’m in class with the author, I don’t feel like the teacher. I feel like the student,” Perry said. “I just love learning about writing and their process from them. I find it really humbling and inspiring, and that was especially true with Maya.”

Following her class visit, Popa gave a reading at 7 p.m. in the Speakers’ Corner of Falvey Library. To begin the event, two students from the Authors On & Off the Page course, Zoe Magee and Natalie Zickel, introduced Popa and her work. Popa then began by reading from her published poetry.

“One of the things that struck me about her reading was the pace that she took,” Perry said. “I wouldn’t say that she read her poems slowly, but she read them in a really measured way that helped me hear the music in her poems, and helped me slow down and appreciate the images that she was using and the way that she uses a kind of language play.”

Following her reading, Popa was joined by Stephen Sexton for a conversation. Sexton, a Northern Irish poet and professor at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast, was part of the group of visiting scholars on campus. This collaboration is part of an ongoing partnership between Villanova University and the Seamus Heaney Centre.

“It’s nice to sit and listen to two people who know their crafts,” Drew said.

Sexton posed questions about Popa’s work and writing process before opening the discussion to the audience. Professors and students then asked Popa questions before the event concluded.

The final event of the 2026 Literary Festival will feature novelist Álvaro Enrique and his literary translator, Natasha Wimmer, who will visit campus on Tuesday, April 14. The reading will take place at 7 p.m. in the Speakers’ Corner of Falvey Library.