TODAY: Reading by Affrilachian Writer Crystal Wilkinson

Crystal Wilkinson’s work has been described as "story poems."

Wilkinson is the author of two books,

Blackberries, Blackberries

(2000) and

Water Street

(2002), both published by Toby Press.

Water Street

was a long-list finalist for the prestigious Orange Prize and short-listed for a Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Legacy Award in fiction.

Blackberries, Blackberries

was named Best Debut Fiction by

Today’s Librarian

magazine. She has been published in the anthologies

Confronting Appalachian Stereotypes: Back Talk from an American Region

(University of Kentucky Press, 1999);

Gifts from Our Grandmothers

(Crown Publishers, 2000); and

Gumbo: Stories by Black Writers

(Doubleday, Harlem Moon Press, 2002). Her work has also appeared in various literary journals, including

Obsidian II: Black Literature in Review

,

Southern Exposure

,

The Briar Cliff Review,

LIT

,

Calyx

,

African Voices

and the

Indiana Review.

She is a faculty member in Spalding University’s low-residency MFA writing program and is currently serving as visiting professor and writer in residence for Morehead State University. Wilkinson was the 2002 recipient of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature and is a member of a Lexington-based writing collective, The Affrilachian Poets.

What: Reading, Q&A, discussion with Crystal Wilkinson
When: Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 2–4 p.m.
Where: Sixth floor, Steger Student Life Center

Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.