McMath and Brownderville will Read for Delta Symposium XXVI

JONESBORO – In conjunction with Delta Symposium XXVI “The Haunted South,” the Department of English, Philosophy and World Languages at Arkansas State University welcomes two veteran writers — novelist Phillip H. McMath and poet Greg Brownderville — for a virtual reading as part of the symposium.

The reading will be Thursday, April 15, at 7 p.m. over Zoom. The event is free and open to the public and the link to the virtual reading can be obtained from Dr. Gregory Hansen, Delta Symposium committee chair, at ghansen@AState.edu.

On Friday, April 16, McMath will meet with A-State students who are taking courses in creative writing.

A novelist, trial lawyer and Vietnam veteran, McMath has combined an interest in history and his native South and war to create a unique body of work in fiction, drama and journalism. A native of the Mississippi Delta, McMath is the author of several novels, including “Native Ground,” “Arrival Point,” “Lost Kingdoms,” and “The Broken Vase.”

McMath is a recipient of the Booker Worthen Prize for Fiction and the Arkansas Library Association's Arkansiana Fiction Award.  He was inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame in 2009.

Brownderville is the author of three books of poems: “A Horse with Holes in It,” “Gust” and “Deep Down in the Delta.”  Brownderville wrote the lyrics for a musical piece titled “Ripple the Sky,” which premiered with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2016.  He edits the Southwest Review, the nation’s third-longest-running literary magazine, and directs the creative writing program at Southern Methodist University.

Brownderville’s awards and honors include Poetry Award from New Millennium Writings, Voice-Only Poetry Prize from Missouri Review, Jane Geske Award from Prairie Schooner, and Porter Prize.

Delta Symposium is sponsored by the Department of English, Philosophy and World Languages, with additional support from KASU 91.9 FM.  The symposium brings together academics, writers and artists from the Delta region and presents work from multidisciplinary approaches including literary criticism, cultural studies, history, anthropology, folklore, ethnomusicology, sociology, speech communication and heritage studies.

All symposium events are free and open to the public.

For additional details, one may contact the department at (870) 972-3043 or visit the symposium website, AState.edu/delta-symposium.

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