UNCA Hosts Reading and Book Signing by Grant Hardy;
Poetry Collection Focuses on Family Relationships

UNC Asheville will host a reading and book signing by Grant Hardy at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 1, in UNCA's Laurel Forum, Karpen Hall. Hardy will read from "Enduring Ties: Poems of Family Relationships," a collection of 128 poems, which he edited. The event is free and open to the public.

Drawn from throughout written history and representing forms and traditions from around the world, the poems in "Enduring Ties" celebrate the joys, emotions and complexity of family relationships. The poems are organized in sections that track the course of life: growing up, marrying, childbearing, parenting, growing older, parting and inheriting. The ties of family life are universal and Hardy’s selections represent multicultural experiences. Contemporary African American, Latino and Asian American voices are included in the book, as well as a generous sampling from medieval China.

Hardy is associate professor and chairman of the UNCA History Department. He is the author of "Worlds of Bronze and Bamboo: Sima Qian’s Conquest of History."

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

Media Contacts:

• Dr. Grant Hardy, UNCA Associate Professor and Chair of History, 828/251-6344
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526