by Jessi Kalvitis, Matt London, and Rebecca Thomas

WVU seems to be quite the literary hub this year. Authors have flooded Colson 130, the Mountainlair, the Robinson Reading Room, and even 123 Pleasant Street.

Katie Fallon and Ida Stewart
by Jessi Kalvitis
Back in the naïve, youthful days of the early semester, before we all reached the post-midterm tearing-out-our-hair stage, an overflowing crowd gathered in 130 Colson Hall to enjoy readings from poet Ida Stewart and creative nonfiction powerhouse Katie Fallon, both alumnae of WVU English programs and both with two new books out (Gloss and Cerulean Blues respectively). Both writers’ work evoked elements of nature that wouldn’t emerge from dormancy for months to come. Stewart spoke of “cohoshes black and blue,” of brambles, of fiddleheads and ginseng, asking us to “feel it pull you underground, elide you.” Fallon treated us to a bird-watching jaunt from the pages of her book Cerulean Blues, transporting us from the dim cold evening to a spring afternoon at Cooper’s Rock, including some delightfully straightfaced bird-call mimicry. Fallon also gave students a brief description of “Writing Appalachian Ecology,” the course she will be teaching during the second summer session. The readings were intertwined with introductions from Mark Brazaitis, who informed us that “when you’re as talented as Ida is, when you write a poem as clean and playful and inventive as Ida does, when you invoke the world as vividly as Ida does, your writing career goes from A to book publication a little faster than usual.” Regarding Katie Fallon’s presence in his fiction workshop some time ago, he remarked that he “let everyone into that class—my mailman, the dude over at Jay’s Daily Grind, my two year old daughter—but Katie belonged there.” The phrase seemed especially appropriate when applied to Katie Fallon, as she still very much belongs as a part of the writing community at WVU today.

To read more about Ida Stewart, Gloss, her work, read the recent alumni spotlight from our Fall 2011 newsletter.

To read more about Katie Fallon, read her alumni spotlight from our Spring 2011 newsletter and read Elissa Hoffman’s coverage about Katie’s book, Cereulean Blues.

Dagoberto Gilb
by Rebecca Thomas
Dagoberto Gilb brought some Southwestern heat to a chilly winter night with his reading. He filled the Moutainlair with a tale of a little boy who never speaks, his very hot mom, a boyfriend, and Pedro Guerrero (“Uncle Rock” from his short story collection Before the End, After the Beginning). For a brief while in February, the Mountainlair was transported to Chavez Ravine. We then journeyed to Iowa as Dagoberto read an essay about migrant workers and corn that both had us wishing for the summer’s crop and rethinking how we get corn in America (“Iowa” from State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America). Read more about Dagoberto’s work

Zachary Schomburg
by Matt London
Darkness. Beer. And a microphone. Zachary Schomburg’s reading at 123 Pleasant Street, sponsored by The Council of Writers, brought in a big crowd of students and poetry thrill seekers. Zach’s read from his new book Fjords Vol. 1 (Black Ocean 2012)—a book of prose poems. Ultimately, through crowd interaction and a remarkably comfortable stage presence, Zach’s poetry at once forced people to laugh to keep from crying. Or maybe they just laughed. And maybe when they though about what Zach just finished reading they thought No, wait. That wasn’t funny at all. That was sad. So sad. We were lucky to have Zachary Schomburg bring his comedy/tragedy masks to Morgantown and WVU. Read more about Zachary Schomburg.

James Harms
by Matt London
It was a family affair. James Harms read to a packed house in the Gold Ballroom, giving listeners many gracious moments of poetry read by one of the most enjoyable voices. His style was laid back and welcoming, like Jim and you were the only two people in the room, and it was natural to read poems to each other (as it should be). Jim read from his new book Comet Scar (Carnegie Mellon 2012) and his new collection of uncollected poems What to Borrow, What to Steal (Marick Press 2012). His ease at handing us his poems and the anecdotes that traced the poem’s beginning made the evening a type of panacea: the deep breath of fresh air that reminds us how the sap of life really flows.

And the readings aren’t done, yet. The Council of Writers was able to bring in two readers this year. Matthew Zapruder is coming to Morgantown. If you click on the podcasts below, his reading might even be posted by the time this is published.
Follow the link to hear podcasts of this year’s readings (with the exception of Zachary Schomburg’s). While you’re there, check out podcasts for past readers that we’ve had. You won’t be disappointed!