ISSUED: 22 January 2019
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University’s Society for Creative Writing will host its inaugural event, a poetry reading featuring Shepherd poet-in-residence Dr. Hope Maxwell Snyder and former Maryland poet laureate Michael Collier, on Friday, February 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Marinoff Theater. The event is free and open to the public, but donations will be accepted.
The evening will include readings by Snyder and Collier, a brief introduction of the Society for Creative Writing, and a description of the program the society will offer in 2019. The society is offering charter memberships that include the following levels—The Adverb Circle, up to $100; The Adjective Circle, $100 to $499; The Preposition Circle, $500 to $999; The Noun Circle, $1,000 to $1,999; The Verb Circle, $2,000 to $4,999; and The Metaphor Circle, $5,000 and up. Shepherd students can join for free.
Snyder was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She holds degrees from the College of William and Mary, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, and University of Manchester. She is currently the assistant director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Sicily, Italy, and poet laureate of Shepherdstown. Her poems and translations have appeared in journals such as the Gettysburg Review, Kenyon Review, International Poetry Review, Poetry Northwest, and Poetry Society of America. Her book, Esperanza and Hope, was published in 2018 by Sheep Meadow Press.
Collier was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He earned his M.F.A. at the University of Arizona. He was poet laureate of Maryland from 2001-2004 and was the director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Collier teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Maryland. His books of poetry include The Clasp and Other Poems, The Folded Heart, The Neighbor, Dark Wild Realm, My Bishop, and The Ledge, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
The Society for Creative Writing is supported by the Shepherd University Foundation’s Scarborough Society and President’s Club, HBP, Inc., and Four Seasons Books.
For more information, contact Snyder at hms@hbp.com.
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