Morgantown Poets welcomes novelist Emily Mitchell this Thursday

Novelist Emily Mitchell will be featured during Morgantown Poets 7 p.m. literary event Thursday (Nov. 19) at Monongalia Arts Center (MAC).

The reading is free and open to the public. The MAC is at 107 High St., downtown Morgantown (beside Hotel Morgan).

Mitchell's first novel "The Last Summer of the World" was a finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lion's Fiction Award in 2008.

"First time novelist Mitchell pulls off the dazzling trick of allowing readers to see through the eyes of art-photography pioneer Edward Steichen in her excellent reconsideration of his life and art," says Publishers Weekly. "This would be merely impressive if the book confined itself to the stormy end of Steichen's first marriage, a subtheme that gets its due and packs a psychological punch. Instead, Mitchell follows Steichen through his airborne reconnaissance work during WWI, providing a devastating portrait of the insanity of war in general and the Great War in particular... this commanding novel is about the images one can never quite burn from memory."

Mitchell's short fiction has appeared in New England Review, Indiana Review, Raritan and Agni. She also has a story that will be published in a forthcoming issue of Ploughshares. Her reviews have appeared in The New York Times and New Statesman.

Mitchell is a faculty member in the Department of English in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University. Born in London, she has lived in Virginia, Vermont, Osaka, New York, California and now, West Virginia.

Public parking is available near the MAC in the parking garage at the corner of Pleasant and Chestnut streets and at the city lot behind 142 High Street (enter off Spruce). The MAC is accessible to individuals with mobility impairments; please schedule ahead at least two days prior to the event by calling                30...       , or write to info@monartscenter.com for more information.

Morgantown Poets is an informal community group that meets from 7-9 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at the MAC, providing literary enthusiasts the opportunity to express themselves, share their work, network and to connect up-and-coming writers with more established authors.

New writers are welcome. Meetings usually begin with a spoken reading by a featured author that is followed by readings from attendees.

Join Morgantown Poets’ mailing list by writing to morgantownpoets@yahoo.com or join the group on Facebook by entering "Morgantown Poets" in Facebook’s search. We also have a listserve at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/motownpoetry.

On the Web: http://lastsummeroftheworldbook.googlepages.com/home

Morgantown Poets Fall 2009 Series

Dec. 17 - Doug Van Gundy, author of the poetry book, "A Life Above Water"

(Note: This falls on WVU Final Exam Week. WVU Winter Break begins Dec. 20. Christmas is Dec. 25.)

Morgantown Poets Spring 2010 Series

Jan. 21 - Special Morgantown Poets spring series/new year kick-off event featuring three authors: T.W. McNemar, president of West Virginia Writers, Inc. and author of the novel, "Ragdoll Angel," and poets Matt Anserello of Morgantown and Isaac Pressnell of Keyser. Adam Atkinson of the regional arts organization, Open Thread (http://openthread.org) will introduce the poets. (Note: Due to the nature of this special event and the number of featured authors, Morgantown Poets may not conduct the usual open reading portion of the event Jan. 21.)

Feb. 18 - Mark DeFoe, author of the poetry books, "Bringing Home Breakfast," "Palmate," "AIR," "Aviary," "The Green Chair," and "Greatest Hits."

March 18 - Elizabeth Savage, faculty member, Fairmont State University, poetry editor of Kestrel, FSU's literary publication

(Note: WVU Spring Recess begins March 27.)

April 15 - Kirk Judd, performance artist and author of the poetry books, "Field of Vision" and "Tao Billy"

May 20 - Judy Byers, storyteller, folklorist, faculty member and director, The Frank and Jane Gabor WV Folklife Center, Fairmont State University

(Note: WVU Commencement is May 16.)

NOTE: If you know of any upcoming literary arts events, programs, publications, collaborations and/or publishing opportunities and would like Morgantown Poets to announce it, feel free to e-mail us back at morgantownpoets@yahoo.com with the date, time and location of the event, as well as all other details such as deadlines. One of our goals is to support authors, artists and the literary arts throughout the community.. While we are very busy and cannot make any promises or 100 percent guarantee we will be able to announce every single event or opportunity, we will do our best to share these opportunities during our scheduled events, and will make an effort to help get the word out online as well. Our deadline for announcements is no later than 5 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month. (Or one week prior to our regularly scheduled event.)

Generally, we focus on announcements concerning the literary community in north-central West Virginia, where Morgantown Poets is located, with a few exceptions for announcements such as publishing opportunities. For statewide literary announcements, we highly encourage everyone to join/get in touch with the statewide writing organization, West Virginia Writers, Inc., http://www.wvwriters.org. West Virginia Writers publishes a frequent e-newsletter and does a wonderful job announcing what's going on in the literary world throughout West Virginia. To get on the West Virginia Writers e-newsletter mailing list, email twmcnemar@verizon.net.

Billy Collins Speaking at Fairmont State

(This news courtesy of WVW Contest Coordinator, Steve Goff)

Billy Collins, one of the greatest living American poets, will be speaking at Fairmont State on Nov. 16. He has really become quite the ambassador for poetry. Any of his collections are very good. He is usually witty, sharp, thoughtful and inspirational in everyone of his poems.

Following the speaking info. I have included a poem of his from the collection The Art of Drowning. I recommend going to a library or bookstore and check out some of his other work for yourself.

He is a very good speaker and quite funny in person. Garrison Keillor has had him on his radio show a lot and he holds his own when the witticisms start flying.

In the poetry world, this is a big "get" for our region. Hope you can make it. I'd go early because I think there will be a very good turn out.


William "Billy" Collins
Nov. 16, 2009
7 p.m.
Turley Center Ballroom

William "Billy" Collins, born March 22, 1941, is an American poet. He served two terms as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. In his home state, Collins was recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library in 1992 and selected as the New York State Poet for 2004. He was recently appointed Claire Berman Artist in Residence at The Roxbury Latin School, in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. He is a distinguished professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York.

Collins received a B.A. degree from the College of the Holy Cross in 1963 and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Riverside. Collins joined the faculty of Lehman College in the Bronx in 1968 and has taught there for over thirty years. He is a founding Advisory Board member of the CUNY Institute for Irish-American Studies at Lehman College. He has taught and served as a visiting writer at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York.

In 1997, he recorded "The Best Cigarette," a collection of 34 of his poems that would become a bestseller. In 2005, he recorded "Billy Collins Live: A Performance at the Peter Norton Symphony Space" in New York City.

Poetry Magazine has awarded him several prizes in recognition of poems they publish. The magazine selected him as "Poet of the Year" in 1994. In 2005 Collins was the first annual recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for Humor in Poetry, bestowed by the Poetry Foundation (Poetry Magazine). He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation in 1993 and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Noah Copley Book Signing on Halloween

WV Writers member Noah Copley will be signing copies of his supernatural novel, Late Season, at Borders Books in Huntington on October 31st from noon to 2 pm.

Visit his website for more details on the book.

Bridgeport Library "Author Extravaganza"

The Bridgeport Library is hosting an "author extravaganza" on Saturday, October 24th, from noon to 5pm. Authors will have displays and have scheduled times to read from their work.

Author list includes:

12:30 Phyllis Wilson Moore, Literary Historian June Langford Berkley, Poet Opening remarks.

1:00 Puppet Show

Patsy Pittman, Author
1:30 Cheryl Denise Miller, Poet

Cheryl Ware, Children’s Author

2:00 Lori Wilson, Poet

Anna Egan Smucker, Children’s Author

2:30 Debra Conner, Portraying Rebecca Harding Davis
Sonya Dunlap & Sharon Snider, Author & Illustrator, Children’s Books

3:00 Susanna Holstein “Granny Sue”

3:30 Steve Goff, Comedian

4:00 Dwight Harshbarger, Author
Trick-or-Treat Begins

4:30 Charlotte Snead, Author


Thank you to the Bridgeport Library for this exciting event.

Anna Egan Smucker Display and Reception

(This news is courtesy of Phyllis Wilson Moore)

Anna Egan Smucker, an award winning author of Harrison County, will be honored with a window display of her work and a reception on Thursday, September 10, 2009 from 3:30-4:30 at James and Law, 217 West Main Street, Clarksburg, West Virginia.

The event will recognize Ms. Smucker’s latest honor: her recent children’s book, "Golden Delicious: A Cinderella Apple Story," is the choice of the West Virginia Library Commission and the WV Center for the Book as the one book to best represent WV at the 2009 National Book Festival in Washington, D. C.

The public is invited to meet Ms. Smucker and discover how she came to write a rollicking book about the origins of the state’s official fruit. Refreshments will be served at this free event.

WVW's own Dwight Harshbarger to appear on WV Metro News Radio

Dwight Harsbarger, author of the new book "Witness at Hawk's Nest" is scheduled to appear on Hoppy Kercheval's Metronews Talkline program on Thursday, at 11 AM, to speak about the Hawk's Nest tragedy.

Consult your local frequencies for channel.