Kwame Dawes grew up with reggae music.

He has even written books on the subject.

Dawes, a professor in the English Department at the University of South Carolina, will be giving two lectures at Eastern this week.

On Wednesday, he is giving a lecture titled “Reggae Music and the Art of Bob Marley,” at 7 p.m. at the Tarble Arts Center.

During the poetry reading Dawes will read from his poetry collections.

In addition to his poetry, Dawes has published five new books last year and also had Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius released for the first time in the United States.

“This is a form of music that shaped me as a young boy and as an adult,” Dawes said. “I grew with this music as my soundtrack, and it is a music that is rich with meaning.”

During his Wednesday lecture, Dawes will speak about the history of reggae music, focusing on reggae songs and lyrics.

“I will talk about the history of the music and try and help people understand some of the complexities of the music.” Dawes said. “I am especially interested in helping people to understanding the cosmology, ideology and aesthetics that have come to shape this popular form of music.”

Dagni Bredesen, associate professor in English, and Michael Loudon, English professor and acting chair of African-American Studies Program, brought Dawes to Eastern.

“I know Kwame Dawes through his poetry, his anthology of reggae poetry and his criticism Natural Mysticism: Towards a New Reggae Aethetic,” said Loudon. ” I know his father Neville Dawes’s work as a cultural critic in the Caribbean and a lyricist poet.”

Dawes hopes his lectures will inspire a love of poetry and reading in his audience. He said he hopes his lectures will lead his audience more engaged with the world and with ideas.

“I sincerely believe in the power of the written and spoken word to transform the individual and the community in which the individual lives,” Dawes said.

He will be giving a fiction and poetry reading at 4:30 p.m. today at the Tarble Arts Center.

Factbox:

Born in Ghana in 1962.

Spent most of childhood in Jamaica.

Authored “Impossible Flying” and “Wisteria” both collections of poetry.

Won the Forward Poetry Prize, the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize, a Pushcart Prize and the Poetry Business Award.

In 2005 he was appointed the Executive Director of the University of South Carolina Arts Institute.

Distinguished Poet in Residence at USC.

Ashley Mefford can be reached at 581-7942 or almefford@eiu.edu.