WILSON, N.C. — March 7, 2025 — Barton College will welcome author Joseph Bathanti for the upcoming Victor R. Small Writers Series Lecture on Wednesday, March 19. The lecture will be held at 7 p.m. in Howard Chapel on campus. This event is open to the public at no charge, and the community is invited to attend.
Joseph Bathanti, North Carolina’s poet laureate from 2012 to 2014, is a recipient of the North Carolina Award in Literature, the state’s highest civilian honor, and a member of the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. He is the author of more than 20 books and serves as the McFarlane Family Distinguished Professor of Interdisciplinary Education at Appalachian State University. Bathanti has received the Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching Award and served as the 2016 writer-in-residence at the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, where he co-founded the center’s creative writing program.
His upcoming works include “Too Glorious to Even Long for on Certain Days,” a novella set for release in 2025 from Regal House Press, and “Steady Daylight,” a poetry collection forthcoming in 2026 from Louisiana State University Press.
The Victor R. Small Writers Series is sponsored by the Barton College School of Humanities and the Department of English and Modern Languages. For additional information, please contact Elizabeth H. Jordan Chair of Southern Literature and Associate Professor Michael Brantley at mkbrantley@barton.edu or 252-399-6370.
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