Poems

April 25, 2013 Lisa Dordal holds a Master of Divinity and a Master of Fine Arts in poetry, both from Vanderbilt University, where she currently teaches part-time in the English department. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies, including Cave Wall, Sugar House, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Sinister Wisdom, The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2011), and The Southern Poetry Anthology (Texas Review Press, 2013), among others. Dordal lives in Nashville with her partner, Laurie, and their two retired greyhounds. She will read from Commemoration on April 25 at 7 p.m. in the Poet’s Corner series at the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville.

April 11, 2013 Jeff Daniel Marion, a native of Rogersville, taught English and creative writing at Carson-Newman University for over thirty-five years. There he was poet-in-residence, director of the Appalachian Center, and editor of Mossy Creek Reader. He has published nine poetry collections, four chapbooks, and a children’s book, Hello, Crow. Poems have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies, including The Southern Review, Shenandoah, Southern Poetry Review and Appalachian Heritage, among others. His honors include the 2002 Outstanding Contribution to Appalachian Literature Award, the 2005 Educational Service to Appalachia Award, and the 2011 James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South. In 2007 he was inducted into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame. Marion lives in Knoxville with his wife, poet and editor poet Linda Parsons Marion. On April 11 and 12, Carson-Newman University will host the Jeff Daniel Marion Festival. Read more about it—and the many reasons for honoring Marion—in an essay by Jesse Graves, here.

December 21, 2012 Kevin Brown is a professor at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. He is the author of one book of poetry, Exit Lines (Plain View Press, 2009), and two chapbooks: Abecedarium (Finishing Line Press, 2011) and Holy Days: Poems (winner of the 2011 Split Oak Press Chapbook Contest). He has also written a memoir, Another Way: Finding Faith, Then Finding It Again (Wipf and Stock, 2012), and a book of scholarship, They Love to Tell the Story: Five Contemporary Novelists Take on the Gospels (Kennesaw State University Press, 2012). He received his M.F.A from Murray State University.

December 7, 2012 Clay Matthews has published poetry in journals such as The American Poetry Review, Black Warrior Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. His most recent book, Pretty, Rooster), is a collection of sonnets written in syllabics. His other books are Superfecta (Ghost Road Press, 2008) and RUNOFF (BlazeVox, 2009). He teaches at Tusculum College in Greeneville and edits poetry for the Tusculum Review.

November 16, 2012 Marcel Brouwers, a first-generation American, has lived in Chicago, Seoul, Prague, Zihuatanejo, Kalamazoo, and Cassis, France. He currently lives in Knoxville, where he teaches in the University of Tennessee’s English department and serves as director of the UTK Writing Center. He is also the author of The Rose Industrial Complex, a chapbook of poems published by Finishing Line Press in 2009. He will read from his new collection, The Old Cities, on November 25 at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville. The event begins at 2 p.m.

November 9, 2012 Ted Olson, a former Fulbright Senior Scholar, is the author of several books, including a previous collection of poetry, Breathing in Darkness, and a study of Appalachian culture, Blue Ridge Folklife. He has edited numerous books, including collections of literary work by James Still, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Sherwood Anderson; and the award-winning The Bristol Sessions: Writings about the Big Bang of Country Music. Olson served as associate editor for The Encyclopedia of Appalachia and co-editor of A Tennessee Folklore Sampler. In 2012, for his work as a music historian, Olson received two Grammy Award nominations and also the East Tennessee Historical Society’s Regional Excellence in History Award of Distinction. He holds the Ph.D. degree in English from the University of Mississippi, and he teaches at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City. Ted Olson will read from Revelations: Poems on November 11 at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville. The event begins at 2 p.m.