On Monday, March 20, distinguished poet, Potomac Review poetry editor, and UT alumna Katherine Smith will be reading from her collection, Woman Alone on the Mountain. The event is part of the University of Tennessee’s Writers in the Library reading series. The mission of Writers in the Library is to “showcase the work of novelists, poets, and other literary craftsmen.” Some of the best voices on the literary scene today are invited to read.

The reading begins at 7 p.m. in the Lindsay Young Auditorium of the John C. Hodges Library. The event is free and open to the public; all are encouraged to attend.

Katherine Smith’s poems voyage from Paris to Appalachia. The ride is smooth and entertaining, and the music of the language impressive. “Katherine Smith is a poet of the taste buds, the tongue, the fingertips. Her sensual music makes us long for love and ‘lavender honey’ in the South of France. But her life alone and with her [daughter] in America is painted richly too,” E.S. Morgan wrote, about Smith’s “Argument by Design.” “The poet astounds by her incredible range,” Richard Jackson agreed. Smith’s new book focuses on strong women living in our mountains. Katherine Smith received her MFA from the University of Virginia. Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares and Missouri Review, among scores of journals.

Opening for Katherine Smith will be Tanque Jones, one of the first poets to receive an MFA from the University of Tennessee in 2014. Her first book, Woman in Transition, was published by WordTech in 2014. In this sultry, hard-hitting collection, the poet is a truth-teller, speaking of race and class in East Tennessee, embodying strength and honor. But first and foremost Tanque Jones is a love poet, singing the blues.

Writers in the Library is sponsored by the UT Libraries and the Creative Writing Program in association with the John C. Hodges Better English Fund. For more information contact Erin Elizabeth Smith, Jack E. Reese Writer-in-Residence at the UT Libraries, at esmith83@utk.edu or visit http://library.utk.edu/writers for a complete schedule of Writers in the Library readings for the 2016-2017 academic year.

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