DALLAS (March 28, 2006)—Noted poet Robert Hass will be leading a guided tour of the Berkeley Poetry Walk followed by a poetry reading on Thursday, April 13, 6 p.m. at the Half Price Books in Berkeley, 2036 Shattuck Ave. Anyone wishing to participate in the free event can meet at Half Price Books, and the walk will depart shortly after 6 p.m. Following the tour, Hass will read and discuss selected poems featured on the walk.

The City of Berkeley called on former U.S. poet laureate Robert Hass and artist David Lance Goines to design the poetry panels that now make up the Berkeley Poetry Walk as a way to celebrate Berkeley's unique literary and artistic history. Their work resulted in a series of 126 specially designed poetry panels that were installed on the sidewalk along Addison Street between Shattuck Avenue and Milvia Street in 2003. In 2005, Heyday Books published The Addison Street Anthology so readers everywhere could enjoy the poems featured on the walk. The book was edited by Hass and Jessica Fisher, a poet and graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley.

All proceeds from copies of Addison Street Anthology sold at Half Price Books will be given to the Berkeley Public Art Program, and will be used for the maintenance and upkeep of the panels along Addison Street. The book retails for $14.95, and is a compilation of poems featured in the Berkeley Poetry Walk.

Half Price Books is open 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week, and carries more than 140,000 books, music, movies and other items. The store occupies the former S.H. Kress & Co. five-and-dime store built in 1932 and features period fixtures and photographs of the original store.