Poet Daisy Fried '89 has authored three books of poetry: She Didn't Mean to Do It (2000), My Brother is Getting Arrested Again (2006), and Women's Poetry: Poems and Advice (2013). She Didn't Mean to Do It was the winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize from University of PIttsburgh Press, while My Brother is Getting Arrested Again was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards. Her accolades include the Cohen Award from Ploughshares, the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Grace Hazard Conkling residency at Smith, and Poetry magazine's Editor's Prize for best feature article in the past year, for "Sing, God-Awful Muse."

Fried was this year's judge for the Swarthmore awards in poetry and announced the winners at her reading. She has previously directed the Advanced Poetry Workshop at the College and in 2010 took part in the arts performances during President Chopp's inauguration. Here, Fried is was introduced by Professor in English Literature Nathalie Anderson.