Press release

from UNC Asheville

The 2012 Writers at Home fall series, sponsored by UNC Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program (GSWP), begins with readings by distinguished poets Holly Iglesias, Sebastian Matthews and Katherine Soniat. The readings take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16, at Malaprop's Bookstore/Café, 55 Haywood St., downtown Asheville. Writers at Home events are free and open to the public.

Holly Iglesias was the only North Carolina writer to be awarded a prestigious Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts during the NEA’s last round of poetry awards. She is the author of three poetry collections: “Fruta Bomba” (Q Ave Press, 2012), “Angles of Approach” (White Pine Press, 2010), and “Souvenirs of a Shrunken World” (Kore Press, 2008). Her poems have been published in numerous literary journals, and she has received fellowship grants from the North Carolina Arts Council, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Edward Albee Foundation. Iglesias is a lecturer in the Master of Liberal Arts program at UNC Asheville.

Sebastian Matthews is the author of the poetry collections “Miracle Day: Mid-Life Songs” and “We Generous” (Red Hen Press, 2012 and 2007, respectively), and the memoir, “In My Father’s Footsteps” (W.W. Norton & Company, 2003). He is currently at work on a novel and a collection of essays on brotherhood. Matthews teaches in the Low-Residency MFA Program at Queens University, at Warren Wilson College, and in the GSWP. He edits Rivendell, a place-based literary journal. His poetry and prose have appeared in many magazines and literary journals.

Katherine Soniat’s sixth collection of poetry, “A Raft, A Boat, A Bridge,” was published this summer by Dream Horse Press. Her previous collection, “The Swing Girl,” (Louisiana State University Press) was selected as winner of the A.O. Young Award for Best Collection of 2011 by the Poetry Council of North Carolina. Her “A Shared Life” won the Iowa Poetry Prize, and a Virginia Prize for Poetry. Her work has also appeared in many literary journals and magazines. Soniat was associate professor of English at Virginia Tech and was awarded emeritus status upon her retirement. She now teaches workshops in the GSWP.

For more information about the Writers at Home series and the Great Smokies Writing Program, call the program at 828/250-2353 or visit agc.unca.edu.