Authors to Work with Students and Present Readings at Delta Symposium
JONESBORO – In conjunction with Delta Symposium XXVII: Commemoration and Reunion in the South, and the English, Philosophy and World Languages Department at Arkansas State University, novelist and short story author Mary Troy and poet Claude Wilkinson will present readings of their works.
The readings will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 14, at Bradbury Art Museum in Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive. Admission is free and open to the public.
Troy will meet the following day with A-State students who are taking courses in poetry and creative writing.
“By inviting Delta authors for a reading, the Symposium also makes space for literary interpretation of lived experiences in the region,” noted Dr. Khem Aryal, assistant professor of English and co-chair of the symposium committee.
Troy is the author of three short story collections and two novels: “Cookie Lily,” “The Alibi Cafe and other stories,” “Joe Baker Is Dead,” “Swimming on Hwy N,” and “Beauties.” She has won the USA Book award for literary fiction, the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award, a Nelson Algren award, and a William Rockhill Nelson award.
Her sixth book of new and selected stories will be published soon. A professor for many years at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Troy helped shape the MFA program. She spent a decade as editor of Natural Bridge: a journal of contemporary literature.
Troy has published in many journals including New Letters, Arkansas Review, North American Review, Chicago Tribune, and more. Her work is also included in multiple anthologies such as Two Centuries of Writing, St. Louis Writers, and American Fiction.
Wilkinson, who is a poet, critic, essayist and painter, has published four collections of poetry: “World Without End,” “Marvelous Light: Poems,” “Joy in the Morning,” and “Reading the Earth: Poems.” In 2000 he became the first poet selected as the John and Renee Grisham Visiting Southern Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, an honor previously only given to fiction writers.
His essays and work as a critic include exploration on authors and artists such as Maude Schuyler Clay, James Van Der Zee, John Cheever and Flannery O’Connor.
For more details about the symposium, which is sponsored by the Department of English, Philosophy, and World Languages, one may call (870) 972-3043 or visit the symposium website, AState.edu/delta-symposium. All symposium events are free, and the public is welcome to attend.
