Writers Janis Kearney and Dale Smith to read at Delta Blues Symposium XV April 3

March 12, 2009 -- In conjunction with Delta Blues Symposium XV: Celebrating a Century of Delta Culture, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro's Department of English and Philosophy welcomes Janis Kearney and Dale Smith to read from their works on Friday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the Grand Hall, Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro. The event is free and open to the public.

Janis Kearney, a former publisher of the Arkansas State Press newspaper, spent five years serving as President Bill Clinton’s personal diarist. In 2004, she founded Writing Our World Press, and she has recently relocated to Little Rock, Ark. She has completed fellowships and guest lectureships at Chicago City Colleges, DePaul University, and Arkansas State University. She is the author of non-fiction works as well as her new novel, “Once Upon a Time There Was a Girl: A Murder at Mobile Bay.”

Dale Smith is a nationally known poet writer, critic, and editor, and has recently founded the Slow Poetry Movement. A native of Texas, Smith studied poetry at New College of California in San Francisco where he co-edited “Mike and Dale’s Younger Poets.” He now lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, the poet Hoa Nguyen, where they edit the small publishing concern,
“Skanky Possum.” Smith is the author of six poetry collections, and his work has been selected for the prestigious “Best American Poetry” anthology series.

Delta Blues Symposium XV is sponsored by the Department of English and Philosophy at Arkansas State University-Jonesboro. For further information, contact the department or Dr. Rick Burns, Symposium Committee, at (870) 972-3043, e-mail rburns@astate.edu, or visit the Web site www.clt.astate.edu/blues. A complete schedule of symposium events is at http://www.clt.astate.edu/blues/dbs2009schedule.htm.           

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