UNCA's Writers at Home Series Presents Laura Hope-Gill and David Hopes

UNC Asheville’s spring 2002 Writers at Home series continues with readings by local authors Laura Hope-Gill and David Hopes at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17, at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. Writers at Home is part of the Great Smokies Writing Program, a consortium of the Western North Carolina writers’ community and UNCA’s Creative Writing Program. The program is free and open to the public.

A graduate of the Warren Wilson Masters of Fine Arts Program for writers, Hope-Gill has performed and published in England, Australia and the United States. The Canadian-born poet has produced five chapbooks, including "Parts of Speech" featuring poems about the September 11 terrorist attack. Also a composer and visual artist, Hope-Gill teaches English at Christ School in Arden and is currently writing her first novel.

Hopes, a professor of literature and language at UNCA, is founder and director of Black Swan Theatre Co. He is the author of a number of prize-winning books, including "A Childhood in the Milky Way," which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Hopes’ works have appeared in periodicals such as The New Yorker, Audubon, Christopher Street and The Sun. He has been twice voted best poet in the Mountain Xpress readers poll.

Other programs in the series will include readings by the following: Julia Nunnally Duncan and Chrysse Everhart on March 17; Maria Fire and Peggy Millin on April 21; and Kathryn Stripling Byer and Joan Medlicott on May 19. All events will be held at 3 p.m. at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe.

For more information, call UNCA’s Literature and Language Department at 828/251-6411.

Media Contacts:

• Tommy Hays, Great Smokies Writing Program Director, 828/254-1389
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526