As a part of the Literary Lounge series at Riverviews Artspace in Lynchburg, Virginia, Bunny Goodjohn and three other alumni from the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine—Anthony D’Aries, Meriah Crawford, and Deborah Williamson—read selections from their fiction, memoir, and poetry.
In organizing this event, Bunny had in mind the idea of recreating the literary salon, where artists gather to meet in small, intimate settings to share their works with family, friends, patrons of the arts, and each other.
Anthony D’Aries read a selection from his memoir, The Language of Men: A Memoir (Hudson Whitman/Excelsior College Press, 2012). Anthony received the 2010 PEN/New England Discovery Award in Nonfiction. His work has appeared in The Literary Review, Solstice: a Magazine of Diverse Voices, The Good Men Project, and two anthologies: Tarnished: True Tales of Innocence Lost (Pinchback Press) and All the Livelong Day: An Anthology of Writings about Work (Motes Books). Excerpts from The Language of Men received honorable mention for Fourth Genre’s Michael Steinberg Essay Prize and a nomination for the 2011 Best of the Net nonfiction award. Anthony served as Randolph College’s 2011 Emerging Writer-in-Residence. He currently teaches literacy and creative writing in correctional facilities in Massachusetts.
Meriah Crawford read her first published short story, “Still, Life.” Meriah is a writer, an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a private investigator. She has also been a horseback riding instructor, library page, programmer, prepress tech, graphic designer, technical editor, software tester, systems analyst, program manager, and has even been paid to put M&Ms into little baggies for bingo. Meriah’s published writing includes short stories, a variety of non-fiction work, and a poem about semi-colons.
Deborah Williamson read a selection from her memoir. While studying the nonfiction genre, she developed a passion for “mosaic” or “braided” essays, which weave seeming disparate elements into a multi-layered whole. Williamson is a co-owner of a family farm, Seven Oaks Lavender Farm, in Virginia. As a small farmer, Williamson’s writing often includes her perspective on agriculture, entrepreneurism, farm politics, and the local food movement. Family history, family relationships, and frank self-reflection are equally important themes in her writing. Williamson is at work on a memoir that contains elements of all the aforementioned interests.
Bunny Goodjohn read a selection from her novel Sticklebacks and Snow Globes (Permanent Press, 2007) as well as a selection of poetry. Bunny’s novel was included on the Kirkus Best of 2007 list. She has published in various journals including The Texas Review, The Cortland Review, Zone 3, and Connecticut Review, and recently won Reed Magazine’s Edwin Markham Poetry Prize 2011. Bunny teaches English at Randolph College in Virginia and is working on a novel entitled The Beginning Things and on Running 24 North, a collection of poetry.
It was a great opportunity for me to connect with four talented Stonecoast alumni and I really enjoyed hearing their wonderful writing. I look forward to future literary salon events in Virginia.