The language and literature department will hold its first “Writers Read” of the 2010-11 school year 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30, in Martin Chapel of the Seminary building at 91短视频.

Award-winning author Todd Davis will read from his poetry focusing on the environment.

91短视频 Todd Davis

Davis teaches creative writing, environmental studies and American literature at Penn State University’s Altoona campus. He has written three books of poetry – The Least of These (Michigan State University Press, forthcoming), Some Heaven (Michigan State University Press, 2007) and Ripe (Bottom Dog Press, 2002) and is co-editor of Making Poems: 40 Poems with Commentary by the Poets (State University of New York Press, forthcoming).

His poems have been featured on the radio by Garrison Keillor, on “The Writer’s Almanac” and by Marion Roach on “The Naturalist’s Datebook” as well as by Ted Kooser in his syndicated newspaper column, “American Life in Poetry.”

Davis is a recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, named for novelist-poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000), the first black author to win the Pulitzer Prize. She was poetry consultant to the Library of Congress and poet laureate of the State of Illinois.

Admission and other info

Sign language interpretation will be provided, a new feature this year.

Admission to the program, which includes dinner, is $15. Reservations are required and should be made by Friday, Sept. 24. Tickets may be reserved online or by calling the language and literature department at 540-432-4168.

Kasdorf is associate professor of English and women’s studies at Pennsylvania State University, where she teaches in the MFA program in creative writing.

She has published two collections of poetry with the University of Pittsburgh Press, "Eve’s Striptease" and "Sleeping Preacher," recipients of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize and the Great Lakes College’s Association Award for New Writing, respectively. A third collection, "Poetry in America," is currently under submission.

Her poems have been awarded a 2009 NEA fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. She also published a collection of essays, "The Body and the Book: Writing from a Mennonite Life," winner of the 2002 Book of the Year Award from the Conference on Christianity and Literature, and a biography, "Fixing Tradition: Joseph W. Yoder, Amish American." Most recently, she co-edited the restored text of Yoder’s 1940 local color classic, "Rosanna of the Amish." She is also co-editor of the anthology, "Broken Land: Poems of Brooklyn," published by NYU Press.

"The first time I read Julia’s poetry, I found my voice – at 43 years old," said Violet A. Dutcher, chair of 91短视频’s language and literature department. "This voice began to speak, and it ‘spoke’ me through graduate school, my dissertation, my years at Kent State University, and it brought me here to 91短视频. I invite you to come hear Julia read from her work. Your voice will never be the same," she added.

Admission to the program, which includes dinner, is $15. Reservations are required by March 12 and can be made online at www.emu.edu/langlit/writers-read/reservations or by calling the language and literature department at 540-432-4168.

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.

That’s how Barbara Kingsolver, best-selling author of "The Poisonwood Bible" and "The Bean Tree," describes multifacted Carrie Newcomer, who will be in concert 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at 91短视频.

Carrie Newcomer

Newcomer has recorded 10 albums for Rounder/Philo Records, including her latest, "Regulars and Refugees," a follow-up to her critically-acclaimed recording, "Betty’s Diner." The 13 songs on her newest album take the listener inside the world of the same southern Indiana diner, offering a collection of well-hewn stories that say things important and true about the human condition.

"A basic attitude that I have is one of sacramental living – that there isn’t a great gulf between sacred and ordinary," Newcomer stated. "We live with the divine very close and all about us, if we’re open to seeing it that way. The borders are blurred in many wys. The whole story of Betty’s Diner is about moments of grace and forgiveness and hope. This is just the way I see the world," she added.

Newcomer’s songs "are all about telling the truth, however gritty and unpleasant that can be at times," one critic noted. For the artist, connecting with the truth is made easier by filtering her songs through the characters that live and breathe in and between the lines of the songs on "Regulars and Refugees." Betty’s Diner is for real.

Workshops Focus on Peace and Justice

The artist leads workshops across the country on songwriting, creative writing and peace and justice and faith and vocation themes. Her activism springs from her Quaker faith and from her belief in the power of an individual’s calling in the world. It manifests itself in the thing about which she has the most passion – her music.

The musician has shared the stage with such performers as Alison Krauss, Bonnie Raitt, Rosanne Cash and Mary Chapin Carpenter. The string band Nickel Creek covered her song, "I Should’ve Known Better," on their 2003 Grammy award-winning album, "This Side," produced by Alison Krauss. Since 1997 she has done benefit concerts and given a percentage of her tour album sales to charitable organizations ranging from Literacy Volunteers of America and the American Friends Service Committee to Habitat for Humanity and Second Harvest.

She was "artist in residence" at 91短视频 in April, 2005, speaking in chapel and classes, leading workshops on creativity and sustaining joy in work, interacting with students and faculty and giving a public concert of her original music.

General admission to the concert is $8. Tickets are available in advance by calling the 91短视频 box office, 540-432-4582, after Sept. 1. They are also available on-line at . Tickets will also be on sale at the door.

The department at 91短视频 will hold its first "" program of second semester 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at 91短视频.

Poet will read from his published works.

The Rocky Mount, Va., native currently lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., where he is a freelance writer and visiting lecturer at the University of North Carolina.

Chitwood has published three full

That’s how Barbara Kingsolver, best-selling author of "The Poisonwood Bible" and "The Bean Tree," describes multifacted Carrie Newcomer, who will be "artist in residence" at 91短视频 Apr. 6-8.

Carrie Newcomer will be "artist in residence" at 91短视频 Apr. 6-8.

Newcomer, who has recorded nine albums for Rounder/Philo Records, including her latest, "Betty’s Diner," will lead workshops on creativity and sustaining joy in work, speak in classes, interact with students and faculty and give a public concert of her original music during her time on campus.

Newcomer will give a chapel talk 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Apr. 7, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building.

She will join 91短视频 student performers for an informal program in the Common Grounds Coffeehouse in the University Commons 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Apr. 7.

At 10 a.m. Friday, Apr. 8, she will speak in university chapel in Lehman Auditorium.

The artist will conclude her time at 91短视频 with a public concert 8 p.m. Friday, Apr. 8, in Martin Chapel. General admission is $8, premium seats, $12, and $5 for other than 91短视频 students at the door. Tickets are available in advance by calling the 91短视频 box office, 540-432-4582.

Newcomer leads workshops across the country on songwriting, creative writing and peace and justice and faith and vocation themes. She holds to the Quaker saying, "Let your life speak," focusing on the idea that every person has unique and valuable gifts and that the more effective one’s work the more authentic his or her life becomes.

The musician has shared the stage with such performers as Alison Krauss, Bonnie Raitt and Mary Chapin Carpenter. The string band Nickel Creek covered her song, "I Should’ve Known Better," on their 2003 Grammy award-winning album, "This Side," produced by Alison Krauss.