Cathy Smith Bowers

Christine Hale

UNC Asheville's 2009-2010 Writers at Home Series begins with readings by local authors Cathy Smith Bowers and Christine Hale at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, at Malaprop's Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. The event is free and open to the public.

Bowers’ poems have appeared widely in publications such as “The Atlantic Monthly” and “The Kenyon Review.” She is a winner of the General Electric Award for Young Writers and the South Carolina Arts Commission Fiction Project, as well as a recipient of a South Carolina Poetry Fellowship. Bowers is the author of four collections of poetry, including her most recent collection, “The Candle I Hold Up To See You” (Iris Press, 2009). She served for many years as poet-in-residence at Queens University of Charlotte, where she received the 2002 JB Fuqua Distinguished Educator Award. She now teaches in the Low-Residency MFA Program at Queens University of Charlotte and at Wofford College.

Hale is the author of the new novel, “Basil’s Dream” (Livingston Press, 2009). Hale’s short fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in many journals, including “Arts & Letters” and “Apalachee Review.” She’s taught fiction at Warren Wilson College, where she was a Beebe Fellow, as well as in the Great Smokies Writing Program. She is currently a faculty member at the Murray State University Low-Residency MFA Program in Murray, Ky. Hale is at work on a new novel and a memoir.

The Writers at Home Series is sponsored by UNC Asheville's Great Smokies Writing Program. For more information, call the program at 828/232-5122.