Jacinda Townsend, the author of “Saint Monkey,” a novel about two girls growing up in Eastern Kentucky’s African-American community after the Korean War, will be one of several nationally known writers who will read at the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop, to be held July 21-24 on WVU’s downtown campus.
All readings are free and open to the public. A book-signing and reception will follow each reading.
Townsend will read Thursday, July 21, at 8 p.m. in room 130 of Colson Hall. She will share the podium with Shara McCallum, the director of the Stadler Center for Poetry at Bucknell University and the author of five books of poems, including the forthcoming “Madwoman.”
“Jacinda and Shara will give great, inspired readings,” said Mark Brazaitis, a WVU English professor and the Workshop’s director. “We’re very much looking forward to having them on campus.”
On Friday, July 22, at 1:30 in E. Moore Hall, Renée Nicholson, the author of the poetry collection “Roundabout Directions to Lincoln Center,” and Brent House, a poet who teaches at California University of Pennsylvania, will read.
The same night, at 8 p.m., in room 130 of Colson Hall, three WVU English professors—Brazaitis, the author of “The Incurables: Stories” and six other books; the department chair, James Harms, the author of ten books of poems, including “Comet Scar;” and Ethel Morgan Smith, the author of “Reflections of the Other: Being Black in Germany—“ will read.
Readings will conclude Saturday, July 23, at 1:30 p.m., with the poet and playwright David Hassler, author of two books of poems and the play “May 4th Voices: Kent State, 1970,” Alonzo LaMont, a playwright from Baltimore and the author of “That Serious He-Man Ball,” and Howard Owen, the author of 13 novels, including “Oregon Hill,” winner of the 2012 Dashiell Hammett Prize for best crime literature in the U.S. and Canada.
For more information, contact Mark Brazaitis at 304-293-9707 or Mark.Brazaitis@mail.wvu.edu or go to the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop website.
