LUNCH WITH BOOKS: Wheeling Poetry Series - Ron Houchin with special guest A. E. Stringer

July 17, 2018
12:00pm - 12:00pm

THE WHEELING POETRY SERIES: RON HOUCHIN with A. E. STRINGER

The Ohio County Public Library is excited to announce the ninth poetry reading in its landmark Wheeling Poetry Series. The highly respected and award winning poet, Ron Houchin, will be reading on Tuesday at noon, July 17th in conjunction with the ongoing Lunch with Books program An astounding writer and teacher, Ron Houchin has published three major collections and won four poetry contests in just the past two years. His life’s work has been hailed by some of the finest poets in America. As a special bonus, the distinguished author and poet, A.E. Stringer, will be joining Mr. Houchin on stage to read a few of his own poems.

Ron Houchin is a retired teacher who taught thirty years in a public school in Ohio's Appalachian region. He lives on the banks of the Ohio River across from his hometown, Huntington, WV. He has eight major poetry collections published, as well as a novella and a collection of short stories. His work has been nominated for Pushcart and Paterson Prizes. He was awarded the Appalachian book of the year in poetry in 2004 and the Weatherford Award in poetry in 2013 for his collection, THE MAN WHO SAWS US IN HALF, LSU Press. Several of his other titles have been published by Salmon Publishing, the distinguished Irish publisher based in County Clare.

Periodical publications of his poems include some of the finest journals in the country such as the Poetry Ireland Review, Southern Poetry Review, Poetry Northwest, Puerto del Sol, The Southwest Review, Appalachian Heritage, The New Orleans Review, and over two hundred other venues. He has been awarded an Ohio Arts Council Grant for teachers of the arts, a tutorial fellowship to teach a writing workshop in Dublin, and a poetry prize from Indiana University.

A.E. Stringer, our guest author, taught writing and literature at Marshall University for nearly twenty-five years and the already highly acclaimed A.E. Stringer Visiting Writers Series at Marshall is named in his honor. Stringer has published three major collections of poetry including CHANNEL MARKERS from the legendary Wesleyan Poetry Series and most recently, LATE BREAKING, 2013, Salmon Poetry Publishing.

Kicking off the fourth season of The Wheeling Poetry Series will be one of America’s most distinguished poets, Ed Ochester, along with the award winning and prolific poet, Judith Vollmer on October 9th.

Launched in September 2015, the Wheeling Poetry Series, hosted by West Virginia poet laureate Marc Harshman, features readings by some of the finest poets from our Appalachian region and beyond.