Over the course of 30 years, Raymond Danowski amassed what was likely the largest private collection of poetry. In 2004, he decided to place his library at Emory University. In 2008, he reflected back on what motivated him to start collecting poetry and why he chose Emory. Since fall 2005, The Raymond Danowski Poetry Library's curator Kevin Young has directed a reading series that has already boasted some of the best poets from America and abroad, from Sonia Sanchez and Simon Armitage to National Book Award-winner Lucille Clifton, Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander, and Pulitzer Prize–winners Galway Kinnell, Rita Dove, and Emory’s own Natasha Trethewey.