HUNTINGTON —  Poets Ron Houchin and A. E. Stringer will read from their work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3 in Room 2W16 of the Marshall University Student Center on the Huntington campus.

 The reading marks the American release of Houchin’s Museum Crows and Stringer’s Human Costume, both recently published by Salmon Poetry of Ireland.  The event is also a celebration of the Marshall Visiting Writers Series’ Twentieth Anniversary.

Stringer is professor of English at Marshall University and the author of two poetry collections.  His work has appeared in such journals as The Nation, Shenandoah, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, and Denver Quarterly, as well as in the anthology Backcountry: Contemporary Writing in West Virginia.

Stringer recently edited and introduced a new edition of Louise McNeill’s classic Appalachian poetry book Paradox Hill (West Virginia University Press, 2009).  He has traveled to read his work in a wide range of American locales and also in Galway, Ireland.  For the past 20 years, Stringer has taught writing and literature at Marshall, where he coordinates the Visiting Writers Series.

A Huntington native, Houchin is the author of five books of poetry.  His work has appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, The Southwest Review, Poetry Northwest, Appalachian Heritage, The New Orleans Review, and many others. He has been awarded an Ohio Arts Council Grant for teachers of the arts, and his collection Among Wordless Things received the 2005 Book of the Year Award from the Appalachian Writers' Association.

 Houchin was a featured writer at the Dublin Writers Festival in 2001 and has read his work internationally in locales as diverse as Key West and the Czech Republic.  He taught writing and literature at Fairland High School for 30 years.

 Their appearance is sponsored by Salmon Poetry of Ireland and NSI Productions.

 For more information, contact Stringer at 304-696-2403.
 

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