UT celebrates National Poetry Month this April with a look at some faculty writers who are making their mark on the region and the world.
Marilyn Kallet, UT professor of English, recently published in Plume magazine two new poems she wrote during her November 2015 stay in Paris before and after the terrorist attacks. She has penned seventeen books, including six volumes of poetry, translations, critical essays, children’s books, pedagogy, and anthologies of women’s literature. In addition to teaching at UT, Kallet teaches a poetry workshop in Auvillar, France, for the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She will lead a poetry workshop in Auvillar from May 16-23.
Arthur Smith‘s poems have appeared in numerous publications including The Nation, The New Yorker, and North American Review. A UT professor of English, Smith teaches undergraduate- and graduate-level poetry writing courses. He has given talks and read his work to various local and regional groups including the Meacham Writers’ Workshop in Chattanooga, the Knoxville Writers’ Guild and Knoxville Heritage Poets for Preservation at Historic Westwood. He’s given a reading at Ijams Nature Center titled “Letters to the Earth: Songs and Poems of Conservation.” Learn more about his work and read some of his poems on his website.
UT Senior Lecturer of English Erin Elizabeth Smith teaches poetry writing, business writing, and literature and genre classes including Women in American Literature and Introduction to Poetry. She has authored two full-length collections of poetry, The Naming of Strays and The Fear of Being Found. Smith’s poetry and nonfiction have appeared in numerous publications including The Mid-American Review, The Florida Review, and Rhino. Smith is creative director for Sundress Academy for the Arts, an Oak Ridge-based local artist residency and arts collective. She also is managing editor of Sundress Publications, Stirring: A Literary Collection, and the Best of the Net anthology. Read and listen to a selection of Smith’s poems online.
UT Event
Poet Nikky Finney will give a poetry reading for the UT’s Writers in the Library at 7:00 p.m. today, April 4, in the Lindsay Young Auditorium of John C. Hodges Library. The reading is free and open to the public.
Finney is the author of five books, including Head Off and Split, the winner of the 2011 National Book Award in poetry, which addresses contemporary southern black life, the response to Hurricane Katrina, and the legacy of civil rights activism in contemporary culture. Finney addresses issues of race, social justice, family, disaster, and national politics in accessible, complex, and beautiful verse.
Read more about Finney and the Writers in the Library series.
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CONTACT:
Lola Alapo (865-974-3993, lalapo@utk.edu)