Novelist Morgan to Speak at Final ‘Writers Read’

The language and literature department at will hold its final “Writers Read” program of the school year Thursday, Mar. 12. (Reservations must be made by March 9/strong>.)

Robert Morgan Morgan is the author of eight books and numerous essays and poems. His latest book, Boone: A Biography, won the 2007 Kentucky Literary Award for nonfiction at the 10th annual Southern Kentucky Book Fest.

“Boone” was a top 10 selection in a critic’s favorite books of 2007 by Washington Post columnist Jonathan Yardley. “Robert Morgan carefully separates legend from reality in the life of the country’s most famous frontiersman,” Yardley noted.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill honored Morgan with its 2008 Thomas Wolfe Prize and Lecture in memory of one its most famous alumni, Thomas Clayton Wolfe (class of 1920). Established in 1999 with an endowed gift to the department of English, the program recognizes contemporary writers with distinguished bodies of work.

“Boone” was also selected as the 2008 title for “Together We Read,” the annual community-based reading project of western North Carolina.

Morgan’s other works include The Strange Attractor, a collection of 93 poems spanning 35 years; Brave Enemies, This Rock, Gap Creek, The Balm of Gilead Tree (10 short stories), The Truest Pleasure and The Hinterlands.

Registration for the program, which includes dinner, is $15 and $7 for students. Reservations must be made by March 9 and can be made online at www.emu.edu/langlit/writersread/reservations or by calling the language and literature department at 540-432-4368.