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4 acclaimed authors to visit App State’s campus, share their work this fall

The authors’ visits are part of App State’s fall 2022 Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

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App State students read while taking in a sunny day on Sanford Mall. Photo by Kyla Willoughby

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Appalachian State University’s Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series is named in honor of late alumna Hughlene Bostian Frank ’68, left. She is pictured with her husband, William “Bill” Frank. Photo by Marie Freeman

The Visiting Writers Series’ eponymous patron

Appalachian’s Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writing Series, named in honor of late alumna Hughlene Bostian Frank ’68, brings distinguished and up-and-coming creative writers to the university’s campus throughout the year to present readings and discuss their works.

Frank was a 2013 Appalachian Alumni Association Outstanding Service Award recipient and past member of Appalachian’s Board of Trustees and the Appalachian State University Foundation, as well as a generous supporter of Appalachian. She also served as a member on the College of Arts and Sciences Advancement Council and the Beaver College of Health Sciences Advisory Council.

Learn more about Frank and her legacy.

By Jessica Stump
Posted Sep. 21, 2022 at 12:33 p.m.

BOONE, N.C. — Four acclaimed authors will visit the Appalachian State University campus this fall, taking part in the “biggest, most diverse, and, by far, most ambitious Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series yet,” said series co-Director Mark Powell — an author and associate professor of creative writing and the director of App State’s creative writing program.

This fall’s guests include a poet, a novelist, a memoirist and an environmental writer, whose works explore gay and immigrant identities in Appalachia, race in the South, environmental and body image issues, and crime in small towns.

The visiting authors, in order of appearance:

  • Poet Savannah Sipple.
  • Memoirist Neema Avashia.
  • Environmental writer Leigh Ann Henion ’05.
  • Crime novelist Scott Blackburn.

Each author will read from and discuss their work and lead talks on the craft of writing. Through these talks, aspiring writers can learn how to refine techniques, develop sounder work habits and gain a greater appreciation of the writing process.

Admission to all events is free and open to the public. Book sales and signings will follow the talks and the readings.

About the authors

Savannah Sipple

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Poet Savannah Sipple. Photo by Rebecca Dayle Ashby

Sipple is the author of “WWJD & Other Poems” (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019), which was included on the American Library Association’s Over the Rainbow Reading List — an annotated bibliography of LGBTQIA+ literature for general adult readers.

According to Sibling Rivalry Press, Sipple’s debut poetry collection “explores what it is to be a queer woman in Appalachia and is rooted in its culture and in her body.”

Silas House, author of “Southernmost” and “Clay’s Quilt,” said Sipple’s poetry is “full of truth and light and so much fierceness it threatens to take flight from our hands while we’re reading it, buoyed by the very power of language. This is powerful, important and brave writing of the highest order.”

Sipple “writes fearlessly about desire, bodies, shame, violence, forgiveness and self-love, and the poems are fierce, sassy and aching,” wrote Carter Sickels, author of “The Prettiest Star.”

A native of East Kentucky, Sipple’s writing has been published in Still, Salon, Go Magazine, Southern Cultures, Split This Rock and elsewhere. She is the recipient of grants from the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund and the Kentucky Foundation for Women.

As part of the fall Visiting Writers Series, Sipple will give a craft talk titled “Write Honestly: Push Yourself to Find Your Voice,” in which participants will examine ways to develop and strengthen their poetic voice.

A professor, an editor and a writing mentor, Sipple resides in Lexington, Kentucky, with her wife.

Neema Avashia

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Memoirist Neema Avashia. Photo by

A queer Asian American teacher and writer, Avashia was born and raised in southern West Virginia to parents who immigrated to the U.S. Her memoir, “Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place,” was published by West Virginia University Press in March. With a mix of lyric and narrative explorations, the book touches upon the topics of foodways, religion, sports, standards of beauty, social media, gun culture and more.

“‘Another Appalachia’ examines both the roots and the resonance of Avashia’s identity as a queer desi Appalachian woman, while encouraging readers to envision more complex versions of both Appalachia and the nation as a whole,” according to the book’s publisher.

In her review of the memoir, Morgan Jerkins, author of “This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America and Caul Baby,” wrote, “Wide and expansive as the land the author calls home, this essay collection subverts the mainstream’s hyperfocus on white, male-dominated narratives from rural America and commands your attention from the first page to the last word.”

Avashia has been a middle school teacher in the Boston Public Schools since 2003. Her essays have appeared in The Bitter Southerner, Catapult, Kenyon Review Online and elsewhere.

Leigh Ann Henion

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Environmental writer Leigh Ann Henion. Photo submitted

Henion, an App State alumna who lives in Boone, is the New York Times bestselling author of “Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World,” which is about how she chased eclipses, migrations and other natural phenomena around the world to reawaken her sense of wonder. “Phenomenal” was named an editor’s pick by O, The Oprah Magazine, Backpacker magazine and Barnes & Noble Review.

Her forthcoming book, “The Wilderness of Possibility: A Journey to Appreciate the Living Marvels of Darkness,” is “a (nonfiction narrative) exploration of the night found in our own backyards — from blooming moon gardens, to glowing foxfire, to synchronous fireflies — making a case for embracing darkness as a fundamental and profoundly beautiful part of the world we inhabit,” as described by Publishers Marketplace. The book’s publisher is Algonquin Books in Chapel Hill.

Henion’s writing has appeared in Smithsonian, Garden & Gun, Men’s Journal, Southern Living, and The Washington Post Magazine, among other publications. She has received a variety of accolades for her work, including multiple Lowell Thomas Awards, and her stories have been featured in several book series, including “The Best American Essays” and “The Best American Travel Writing.”

She will serve as the 2022–23 Rachel Rivers-Coffey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at App State this fall. She holds a Master of Arts in Appalachian studies from App State.

Scott Blackburn

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Crime novelist Scott Blackburn. Photo by Ross Fletcher Gordon

Blackburn’s “It Dies With You” is a “searing literary debut (that) explores the dangerous world of secrets threatening to upend a rural Southern town,” according to Penguin Random House, the book’s distributor. “It Dies With You” was published in June by Crooked Lane Books.

Blackburn’s website offers a synopsis of the novel: “After his estranged father is murdered in an apparent robbery-gone-bad, prizefighter Hudson Miller unexpectedly inherits his father’s business, a salvage yard called Miller’s Pull-a-part. With his boxing career put on hold by a suspension, Hudson is desperate for money. He returns to his hometown of Flint Creek, North Carolina, to run the yard, only to discover that the family business is far more than junk cars and scrap metal; it harbors a deadly, dark secret that will thrust Hudson into the fight of his life.”

In his review of the novel, Michael Farris Smith, author of “Nick and Blackwood,” wrote, “Desperate people, in a hardworn landscape, with the smoke of emotional fires filling the Southern sky, that’s what you’ll get when you settle in with ‘It Dies With You.’”

Blackburn is an English instructor and a 2017 graduate of the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program at Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in High Point with his wife and two children.

More on the series

The fall 2022 Visiting Writing Series is co-presented by App State’s Department of English, The Schaefer Center Presents performing arts series and Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review.

The university’s Belk Library and Information Commons has created a fall 2022 Visiting Writers Series guide that provides information about each author and shows which of the authors’ books are available through the library.

For additional information about the fall series, visit the Department of English website and/or contact series co-director Susan Weinberg, associate professor in the English department, at weinbergsc@appstate.edu.

App State’s 2022–23 season of the Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series is dedicated to the memory of the late Amy Greer ’92, who served as office manager and budget coordinator in the Department of English.

Fall 2022 schedule

Poet Savannah Sipple: Craft Talk
Sep
22
Poet Savannah Sipple: Craft Talk

Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

Sep. 22, 2022
3:30 p.m.

Savannah Sipple is the author of “WWJD & Other Poems” (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019), which was included on the American Library Association's Over the Rainbow Recommended LGBTQ Reading List. It explores what it is to be a queer woman in Appalachia and is rooted in its culture and in her body. A writer from east Kentucky, her writing has been published in Still, Salon, Go Magazine, Southern Cultures, Split This Rock and elsewhere.

Learn more
Poet Savannah Sipple
Sep
22
Poet Savannah Sipple

Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

Sep. 22, 2022
6 - 7:15 p.m.

Savannah Sipple is the author of “WWJD & Other Poems” (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019), which was included on the American Library Association's Over the Rainbow Recommended LGBTQ Reading List. It explores what it is to be a queer woman in Appalachia and is rooted in its culture and in her body. A writer from east Kentucky, her writing has been published in Still, Salon, Go Magazine, Southern Cultures, Split This Rock and elsewhere.

Learn more
Memoirist Neema Avashia: Craft Talk
Sep
29
Memoirist Neema Avashia: Craft Talk

Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

Sep. 29, 2022
3:30 - 4:45 p.m.

When Neema Avashia tells people where she’s from, their response is nearly always a disbelieving: “There are Indian people in West Virginia?” A queer Asian American teacher and writer, Avashia fits few Appalachian stereotypes. But the lessons she learned in childhood about race and class, gender and sexuality continue to inform the way she moves through the world today: how she loves, how she teaches, how she advocates, how she struggles.

Learn more
Memoirist Neema Avashia
Sep
29
Memoirist Neema Avashia

Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

Sep. 29, 2022
6 - 7:15 p.m.

When Neema Avashia tells people where she’s from, their response is nearly always a disbelieving: “There are Indian people in West Virginia?” A queer Asian American teacher and writer, Avashia fits few Appalachian stereotypes. But the lessons she learned in childhood about race and class, gender and sexuality continue to inform the way she moves through the world today: how she loves, how she teaches, how she advocates, how she struggles.

Learn more
Environmental Writer and 2022 Rachel Rivers-Coffey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing Leigh Ann Henion: Craft Talk
Oct
13
Environmental Writer and 2022 Rachel Rivers-Coffey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing Leigh Ann Henion: Craft Talk

Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

Oct. 13, 2022
3:30 - 4:45 p.m.

Leigh Ann Henion is the New York Times bestselling author of “Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer's Search for Wonder in the Natural World.” Her writing has appeared in Smithsonian, Garden & Gun, Men’s Journal, Southern Living, and The Washington Post Magazine, among other publications. She has received a variety of accolades for her work, including multiple Lowell Thomas Awards, and her stories have been noted in “The Best American Essays,” “The Best American Travel Writing,” “The Best American Sports Writing,” and “The Best American Science & Nature Writing.”

Learn more
Environmental Writer and 2022 Rachel Rivers-Coffey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing Leigh Ann Henion
Oct
13
Environmental Writer and 2022 Rachel Rivers-Coffey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing Leigh Ann Henion

Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

Oct. 13, 2022
6 - 7:15 p.m.

Leigh Ann Henion is the New York Times bestselling author of “Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer's Search for Wonder in the Natural World.” Her writing has appeared in Smithsonian, Garden & Gun, Men’s Journal, Southern Living, and The Washington Post Magazine, among other publications. She has received a variety of accolades for her work, including multiple Lowell Thomas Awards, and her stories have been noted in “The Best American Essays,” “The Best American Travel Writing,” “The Best American Sports Writing,” and “The Best American Science & Nature Writing.”

Learn more
Crime Novelist Scott Blackburn: Craft Talk
Nov
10
Crime Novelist Scott Blackburn: Craft Talk

Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

Nov. 10, 2022
2 - 3:15 p.m.

Scott Blackburn is an English instructor and a 2017 graduate of the Mountainview MFA program of Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in High Point, North Carolina, with his wife and two children. When he is not writing and teaching, Scott enjoys training in combat sports such as boxing, Muay Thai, and Ju-jitsu, in which he holds a black belt. His debut novel, “It Dies With You,” was published in June 2022 by the Crooked Lane Books imprint of Penguin Random House.

Learn more
Crime Novelist Scott Blackburn
Nov
10
Crime Novelist Scott Blackburn

Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

Nov. 10, 2022
6 - 7:15 p.m.

Scott Blackburn is an English instructor and a 2017 graduate of the Mountainview MFA program of Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in High Point, North Carolina, with his wife and two children. When he is not writing and teaching, Scott enjoys training in combat sports such as boxing, Muay Thai, and Ju-jitsu, in which he holds a black belt. His debut novel, “It Dies With You,” was published in June 2022 by the Crooked Lane Books imprint of Penguin Random House.

Learn more

What do you think?

Share your feedback on this story.

View larger image

Appalachian State University’s Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series is named in honor of late alumna Hughlene Bostian Frank ’68, left. She is pictured with her husband, William “Bill” Frank. Photo by Marie Freeman

The Visiting Writers Series’ eponymous patron

Appalachian’s Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writing Series, named in honor of late alumna Hughlene Bostian Frank ’68, brings distinguished and up-and-coming creative writers to the university’s campus throughout the year to present readings and discuss their works.

Frank was a 2013 Appalachian Alumni Association Outstanding Service Award recipient and past member of Appalachian’s Board of Trustees and the Appalachian State University Foundation, as well as a generous supporter of Appalachian. She also served as a member on the College of Arts and Sciences Advancement Council and the Beaver College of Health Sciences Advisory Council.

Learn more about Frank and her legacy.

The Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series
The Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

The Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series, named in honor of late alumna Hughlene Bostian Frank ’68, brings distinguished and up-and-coming creative writers to the Appalachian State University campus throughout the year to present lectures and discuss their works. Frank, who was a generous supporter of Appalachian, served as a past member of Appalachian’s Board of Trustees and the Appalachian State University Foundation Inc. She was awarded the Appalachian Alumni Association’s Outstanding Service Award in 2013.

Learn more

About the Department of English

The Department of English at Appalachian State University is committed to outstanding work in the classroom, the support and mentorship of students, and a dynamic engagement with culture, history, language, theory and literature. The department offers master’s degrees in English and rhetoric and composition, as well as undergraduate degrees in literary studies, film studies, creative writing, professional writing and English education. Learn more at https://english.appstate.edu.

About the College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Appalachian State University is home to 17 academic departments, two centers and one residential college. These units span the humanities and the social, mathematical and natural sciences. CAS aims to develop a distinctive identity built upon our university's strengths, traditions and unique location. The college’s values lie not only in service to the university and local community, but through inspiring, training, educating and sustaining the development of its students as global citizens. More than 6,400 student majors are enrolled in the college. As the college is also largely responsible for implementing App State’s general education curriculum, it is heavily involved in the education of all students at the university, including those pursuing majors in other colleges. Learn more at https://cas.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As the premier public undergraduate institution in the Southeast, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls nearly 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.

View larger image

Appalachian State University’s Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series is named in honor of late alumna Hughlene Bostian Frank ’68, left. She is pictured with her husband, William “Bill” Frank. Photo by Marie Freeman

The Visiting Writers Series’ eponymous patron

Appalachian’s Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writing Series, named in honor of late alumna Hughlene Bostian Frank ’68, brings distinguished and up-and-coming creative writers to the university’s campus throughout the year to present readings and discuss their works.

Frank was a 2013 Appalachian Alumni Association Outstanding Service Award recipient and past member of Appalachian’s Board of Trustees and the Appalachian State University Foundation, as well as a generous supporter of Appalachian. She also served as a member on the College of Arts and Sciences Advancement Council and the Beaver College of Health Sciences Advisory Council.

Learn more about Frank and her legacy.

The Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series
The Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series

The Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series, named in honor of late alumna Hughlene Bostian Frank ’68, brings distinguished and up-and-coming creative writers to the Appalachian State University campus throughout the year to present lectures and discuss their works. Frank, who was a generous supporter of Appalachian, served as a past member of Appalachian’s Board of Trustees and the Appalachian State University Foundation Inc. She was awarded the Appalachian Alumni Association’s Outstanding Service Award in 2013.

Learn more

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Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

The migration of materials from other sites is still incomplete, so if you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Additional feature stories may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Photo galleries and videos published prior to Jan. 1, 2015 may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • A university-wide Google Calendar may be found at Events at Appalachian

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Archives

Appalachian Today is an online publication of Appalachian State University. This website consolidates university news, feature stories, events, photo galleries, videos and podcasts.

The migration of materials from other sites is still incomplete, so if you cannot find what you're looking for here, please refer to the following sources:

  • Additional feature stories may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Podcasts may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • Photo galleries and videos published prior to Jan. 1, 2015 may be found at Appalachian Magazine
  • A university-wide Google Calendar may be found at Events at Appalachian
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