By Corey Waite Arnold

On Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 7:00 p.m., poet Diane Gilliam Fisher, PhD, will give a reading at the Library as part of the 15th Annual Villanova Literary Festival. Dr. Fisher’s most recent book, entitled Kettle Bottom, tells the story of the West Virginia coal mine wars of 1920-1921 through the individual perspectives and voice of characters affected by those events.

Dr. Fisher is the recipient of an illustrious range of poetry honors and awards, including the 2008 Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing and a spot on the American Booksellers Association’s spring 2005 Book Sense Picks Poetry Top Ten list for Kettle Bottom. Her poetry shows a remarkable awareness of buried histories, and her language illuminates the beauty in seemingly common vernacular. By leveraging the dialects of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, Dr. Fisher invokes a sense of place in her poetry as dependent on language as it is on landscape, and even the minor communications in her work crackle with a rare vitality. Dr. Fisher earned her PhD in Romance Languages from Ohio State University, and her MFA in creative writing from Warren Wilson College. She currently lives in Ohio.

The reading is the second in this year’s Literary Festival, sponsored by the Department of English. Along with Dr. Fisher, the festival will bring major writers from all over the country to Villanova’s campus, including Junot Díaz, a recent recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Keep an eye on the Department of English blog and homepage for future announcements regarding festival events.

This event will be held in the Speakers’ Corner of the Library, and will be followed by a book sale and signing.

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