UVA Wise Sponsors Coffee Night Showcasing Appalachian Poet Rita Quillen

UVA Wise is celebrating the spring 2022 edition of its literary journal, Jimson Weed, with a coffee night featuring poetry and prose readings and performance by acclaimed Appalachian poet Rita Quillen.

The Coffee Night will be held Thursday, April 14, from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. in the Rhododendron Room on the fifth floor of the C. Bascom Slemp Student Center. The event, which is free and open to the public, kicks off the release of the new edition of the Jimson Weed.

It’s co-sponsored by the College’s Language and Literature Department, Communication Studies Department, the lecture committee and Jimson Weed.

The evening kicks off at 6:30 p.m. with award-winning poet Rita Quillen performing a mixture of poetry, prose and music in her presentation, “Some Notes You Hold: What It Feels Like to be a Woman Claiming Her Voice.”

In her presentation, Quillen, a long-time supporter of Coffee Night, will share her poetic journey growing up in the Southern Appalachians. She will explore issues concerning what life is like as a rural woman. Quillen will delve into these questions: “What notes does a women poet hold in her life as a mountain farmer, poet and musician? What is the common destiny of a rural woman’s life and what is her secret dream? Why does it matter for a ‘mad farmer’s wife’ to claim and reclaim all the voices through family myths and lived lives as a community?”

Quillen is the author of six poetry collections and two novels and her work has been featured in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Her achievement in capturing Appalachian voices in this novel was recently noted in an academic study, Talking Appalachia, edited by UVA Wise Professor of Communication and Appalachian Studies Amy Clark. Quillen is also the author of a book of critical essays, Looking for Native Ground: Contemporary Appalachian Poetry.

For more than 20 years, Quillen taught at Mountain Empire Community College (MECC) and Northeast State Community College. She received her M.A. from East Tennessee State University. An associate professor emerita of English at MECC, Quillen currently lives with her husband in Southwest Virginia on Early Autumn Farm in Scott County.

At 7:30 p.m., during the Coffee Night, an evening of poetry and prose readings featuring contributors to the new edition of the Jimson Weed will begin. Some of those reading their work includes UVA Wise adjunct history professor Michael Samerdyke, retired UVA Wise educational technology professor Bill Dotson, UVA Wise trades technician Greg Sturgill, UVA Wise student and Jimson Weed Managing Editor Trevor Meade, and former UVA Wise adjunct English professor Lavonne Baker.

Associate Professor Emeritus of French, Michael “O’D” O’Donnell will also read excerpts from his new book, Joseph Charles Smiddy: Papa Joe.

The evening will end with a book signing where attendees can purchase Quillen’s newest collection of poems, Some Notes You Hold and The Mad Farmer’s Wife, along with her recent novel, Wayland. O’Donnell will also be present to sign his new book.