BOONE—Novelist and environmental activist Denise Giardina will read from her work Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Parkway Ballroom at Appalachian State University.

She will give a morning craft talk in Table Rock Room from 9:30-11 a.m. Giardina’s appearance is part of the Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series and also is co-sponsored by the Appalachian Studies Program.

Giardina is the author of “Storming Heaven,” “The Unquiet Earth: A Novel,” set in the mining communities of the Appalachia region. Her other works of fiction include “Emily’s Ghost” and “Saints and Villains.”

Giardina is the recipient of the Weatherford Award of the Appalachian Studies Association for both “Storming Heaven” and “The Unquiet Earth,” the Lillian Smith Award and an American Book Award for “The Unquiet Earth,” the Fisk Fiction Prize for “Saints and Villains,” and the Lillie Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing.

A native of West Virginia, Giardina has been an environmental activist since the 1970s. Giardina received a B.A. from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1973 and an M. Div. in 1979 from the Virginia Theological Seminary. She is an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church.

The Visiting Writers Series is named in honor of Hughlene Bostian Frank (class of 1968), 2013 Appalachian Alumni Association Outstanding Service award recipient, past trustee and generous supporter of the university.

The Visiting Writers Series is also supported by the Appalachian State University Foundation, Appalachian’s Office of Academic Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English, the Summer Reading Program, the University Bookstore, Carol Grotnes Belk Library and Information Commons, Watauga Residential College, and the Appalachian Journal. Business sponsors are The Gideon Ridge Inn and The Red Onion Restaurant. Community sponsors include John and the late Margie Idol, Paul and Judy Tobin, Alice Naylor, Thomas McLaughlin and The High Country Writers.

Parking is free on campus after 5 p.m. Event organizers recommend those attending the series use the College Street Parking Deck (from King Street, turn down College Street at the First Baptist Church), which opens to the public weekdays at 5:30 p.m. To reach the student union, cross College Street and follow the walkway between the chiller plant and the University Bookstore, passing the Post Office and entering the Student Union on the second floor.

For further parking information or a map, visit http://parking.appstate.edu or call the Parking and Traffic Office at 828-262-2878. A campus map showing Plemmons Student Union is online at http://studentunion.appstate.edu/pagesmith/54.

For additional information on the Visiting Writers Series season, email [email protected]. To receive Appalachian’s “This Week in the Arts” announcements by email, contact [email protected].

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, cost-effective education. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.

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