Dr. Warren Harris, noted Southwest Virginia poet, will be the 2019 Mary Sue Dean Spring Poet. He will present a reading of his work at the Appalachian Arts Center on Tuesday, April 30, at 7:00 PM. Dr. Harris is well-known in our area, having taught thirty-five years at Southwest Virginia Community College. While at SWCC he founded and edited the college-sponsored Clinch Valley Review, now a well-known regional annual of imaginative writing.
Harris’s poems have appeared in many journals and his book, The Night Ballerina: A Poem Sequence in Seven Parts, was published by Brick House Books in 2012. He has received various grants to support his study and writing, including three from the National Endowment for the Humanities. One of his poems is carved into the stone base of a monumental sculpture in the Spring Hill Station of the Washington, D.C., Metrorail.
He has also written several verse plays and adaptions, some of which have been performed in venues in Chicago, Virginia and New York City. One was performed in William and Mary College’s Wren Chapel by Phi Theta Kappa members from SWCC and other colleges. Another was broadcast on New York City public radio. Recently, his lifelong interest in the visual arts has led him to a writing project that will soon appear in book form under the title Let There Be Jesters: Twelve Poems in Response to Pictures by Marc Chagall.
The Mary Sue Dean Spring Poet reading is a partner to SWCC’s Rodd Altizer Visiting Poet series in October of year. The spring reading in named in honor of Ms. Dean, a renowned and beloved teacher at Richlands High School. After retirement from teaching English composition and literature, she has continued to serve her community by tutoring, work at her church and eventually as Assistant Editor of Chiropractic History: The Archives and Journal of the Association for the History of Chiropractic.
Dr. Harris’s reading is open to the public and there is no charge as a service of the Southwest Virginia Community College. Refreshments will be served and the author’s book will be available. We look forward to seeing you. Call 276-596-9188 or 276-971-2225 for further information.