BOONE—Four programs are scheduled for the spring Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series at Appalachian State University beginning with poet Ed Madden March 3. Other writers are poet and Charlotte Observer book review writer and editor Dannye Romine Powell on March 31, travel and adventure writers Peter Fish and Leigh Ann Henion on April 7, and poet, memoirist and social justice activist Luis Rodriguez on April 28. Book sales and signing will follow each event.

All readings will be presented free of charge at 7:30 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union. Craft talks by the authors will precede each reading. Free parking is available after 5:30 p.m. in the College Street parking deck.

Ed Madden

Madden is an associate professor of English and interim director of women’s and gender studies at the University of South Carolina. His poetry collections include “Nest,” “Prodigal: Variations,” “Signals,” “My Father’s House” and “Ark.” His poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Best New Poets 2007, The Book of Irish American Poetry from the Eighteenth Century to the Present (Notre Dame) and The Southern Poetry Anthology: South Carolina (Texas Review Press).

Madden will give a craft talk “Public Voice, Public Work” March 3 at 2 p.m. in the student union’s Table Rock Room. His reading also will be in the Table Rock Room.

Dannye Romine Powell

Powell has published three collections of poetry (University of Arkansas Press), two of which have won the Brockman-Campbell Award for the best book of poetry published by a North Carolinian, and the non-fiction book “Parting the Curtains: Interviews with Southern Writers.” She has won fellowships in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council.

Powell will present the craft talk “The Art and Craftiness of the Literary Interview” March 31 at 3:30 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Table Rock Room. Her reading will follow at 7:30 p.m., also in Table Rock Room. Her visit to campus is part of the annual Juanita Tobin Memorial Reading. Tobin, who lived in Blowing Rock, was a member of the High Country Writers Club and a mentor to area writers.

Peter Fish and Leigh Ann Henion

Fish is a former travel writer and editor for Sunset Magazine. In 2014, he won a Lowell Thomas Award for environmental journalism. He co-authored the 2007 publication “California Wine Country: A Sunset Field Guide.” Henion is the New York Times best-selling author of “Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World.” Her essays and articles have appeared in Smithsonian, Orion and The Washington Post Magazine, among other publications. She also has a Lowell Thomas Award.

Fish and Henion will present the craft talk “Travel Writing” April 7 at 2 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Table Rock Room. They will read from their work beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Table Rock Room.

Luis Rodriguez

Rodriguez’s poetry collections include “The Concrete River,” “Poems Across the Pavement,” and “Trochemoche.” His best-selling memoir is titled “Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.” His latest book is the sequel “It Calls You Back: An Odyssey Through Love, Addiction, Revolutions, and Healing.”

Rodriguez will present a talk for area middle school youth April 28 beginning at 3:30 p.m. in Blue Ridge Ballroom. The public also is invited to attend. His reading will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the student union’s Blue Ridge Ballroom. His campus visit is also co-sponsored by Appalachian’s Diversity Series, which is a part of the Office of Multicultural Student Development, the GEAR UP office on campus and the Western Youth Network.

About the Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

The visiting writers series is named in honor of Hughlene Bostian Frank (class of 1968). Frank is a member of the Appalachian State University Foundation Board, a 2013 Appalachian Alumni Association Outstanding Service award recipient, past member of Appalachian’s Board of Trustees and generous supporter of the university.

The 2015-16 Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series is supported by the Appalachian State University Foundation, Appalachian’s Office of Academic Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English, the Office of Multicultural Student Development, the university’s Common Reading Program, the University Bookstore, Belk Library and Information Commons and the Appalachian Journal.

Business sponsors are The Gideon Ridge Inn, the New Public House & Hotel and The Red Onion Restaurant. Community sponsors include John and the late Margie Idol, Paul and Judy Tobin, Alice Naylor and Thomas McLaughlin.

Parking is free on campus after 5 p.m. The Library Parking Deck on College Street, which opens to the general public after 5:30 p.m., is recommended. To reach Plemmons Student Union, cross College Street and follow the walkway between the chiller plant and the University Bookstore, passing the University Post Office and entering Plemmons Student Union on the second floor. For further parking information or a map, see http://parking.appstate.edu or call the Parking and Traffic Office 828-262-2878.

For further information on the spring season, call 828-262-2871 or see http://visitingwriters.appstate.edu. To receive Appalachian’s “This Week in the Arts” announcements by email, contact arts-events@appstate.edu.

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, affordable education for all. 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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