Morgan is the author of eight books and numerous essays and poems. His latest book, Boone: A Biography, won the 2007 Kentucky Literary Award for nonfiction at the 10th annual Southern Kentucky Book Fest.

“Boone” was a top 10 selection in a critic’s favorite books of 2007 by Washington Post columnist Jonathan Yardley. “Robert Morgan carefully separates legend from reality in the life of the country’s most famous frontiersman,” Yardley noted.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill honored Morgan with its 2008 Thomas Wolfe Prize and Lecture in memory of one its most famous alumni, Thomas Clayton Wolfe (class of 1920). Established in 1999 with an endowed gift to the department of English, the program recognizes contemporary writers with distinguished bodies of work.

“Boone” was also selected as the 2008 title for “Together We Read,” the annual community-based reading project of western North Carolina.

Morgan’s other works include The Strange Attractor, a collection of 93 poems spanning 35 years; Brave Enemies, This Rock, Gap Creek, The Balm of Gilead Tree (10 short stories), The Truest Pleasure and The Hinterlands.

Registration for the program, which includes dinner, is $15 and $7 for students. Reservations must be made by March 9 and can be made online at www.emu.edu/langlit/writersread/reservations or by calling the language and literature department at 540-432-4368.

The language and literature department at 91短视频 will feature the narrative poetry of Cheryl Denise Miller at its next Writers Read program, 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at 91短视频.

Cheryl Denise, of Philippi, W.Va., draws from her Canadian Mennonite roots in Elmira, Ont., rural life and an attachment to the people and mountains of West Virginia in her book of poetry, “I Saw God Dancing” (Cascadia Publishing, 2005).

“Her poetry is rich in concrete detail, and many poems contain a storytelling quality,” a reviewer noted of her work. “Subjects range from sheep farming to lusts and longings, biblical women, legs, old lovers and laundromats. Often humorous, she penetrates to the deep current of human relationship. Many people who don’t read poetry find themselves drawn to Cheryl’s truthful, clear style.”

After nursing school, the writer worked as a public health nurse in a rural Hispanic community in Colorado. Currently she and her husband, Mike Miller, are part of the Shepherds Field intentional community on a sheep farm in the hills near Philippi. She works as a nurse at the Barbour County Senior Center.

Cheryl Denise will have wool blankets from her farm for sale in addition to copies of her book.

Admission to the program, which includes dinner, is $14. Reservations are required and should be made by Friday, Feb. 15 by calling the language and literature department at 540-432-4168 or email: langlit@emu.edu.

The language and literature department at 91短视频 will hold its first "Writers Read" program of the new school year Tuesday, Sept. 25.

Peggy Payne, a novelist, journalist and editorial consultant from Raleigh, N.C., will read from her works 5:30 p.m. in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at 91短视频.

Payne’s research for her travel writing and novels has taken her to more than 25 countries. Her most recent novel, Sister India, is a New York Times Notable Book. She is author of the novel, Revelation (screen rights sold to Synergy Films), and co-author with Allan Luks of The Healing Power of Doing Good. She also wrote a book on a clothing firm, Doncaster: A Legacy of Personal Style.

"My critically acclaimed novels and very different nonfiction books all focus on some aspect of people boldly speaking out, acting on their beliefs, and living in their own vivid and characteristic ways," the author states. "In each of my books, there is a strong current of spirituality, based on the conviction that we must draw on our largest and most profound resources to unfold fully, powerfully, and authentically."

Her articles, reviews and essays have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Ms. Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Family Circle, Travel+Leisure, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and many others. She offers market-oriented feedback on fiction and nonfiction, in book-length or shorter forms, and consults with writers about career issues, approaching agents and breaking into magazines, based on her more than 30 years of free-lance experience.

A lifelong North Carolina resident, Payne was born in Wilmington. She works with other writers in an office in the historic Oakwood section at the edge of downtown Raleigh.

Admission to the program, which includes dinner, is $14. Reservations are required and should be made by noon Friday, Sept. 21, by calling the language and literature department at 540-432-4168.

A season pass for all four Writers Read programs of the 2007-08 school year is available for $45.