ISSUED: 8 July 2016
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Selections from Shepherd University’s 2016 “Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Nikki Giovanni Volume VIII” will be read Sunday, July 17, beginning at 5 p.m., at Four Seasons Books, 116 West German St.
Local writers who will participate in the reading include poets Sonja James, Eileen Waggoner, and Robin Talbert. Fiction writer Jessica Salfia will read literary pieces from the volume, and Randi Ward, award-winning poet and photographer, will also read from her new collection “Whipstitches.”
“This reading will preview the Giovanni volume, which is rich in breath-taking poetry and striking fiction pieces,” said Dr. Sylvia Bailey Shurbutt, professor of English and coordinator of the Appalachian Studies Program. “The book focuses on gender and racial issues—themes dear to Giovanni’s heart—and includes her own poetic commentary on contemporary racial issues in a poem written especially for the anthology, ‘The Past . . . The Present . . . The Future.’”
The Anthology of Appalachian Writers is a product of the Appalachian Heritage Writers Project at Shepherd University, partnering with the West Virginia Center for the Book, a co-publisher, and the West Virginia Humanities Council, which sponsors the Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Resident Project. Editors of the anthology include Dave Hoffman, Natalie Sypolt, and Danielle Carder.
The program will bring Charles Frazier, author of “Cold Mountain” and “Thirteen Moons” to Shepherd University in September.
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