FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009
Contact:
Dave Wellman, Director
of Communications,
304-696-7153
Marshall University faculty member’s new book released
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall University English Department Professor A. E. (Art) Stringer recently published a new collection of poems, Human Costume, through Salmon Poetry in Ireland. Stringer is the author of a previous collection, Channel Markers, and has taught writing and literature at Marshall for 20 years.
“Professor Stringer continues to prove himself to be an extremely deep well of talent and inspiration for our students,” said Dr. David J. Pittenger, dean of Marshall’s College of Liberal Arts. “Having an accomplished author of his distinction is an undeniable asset for the Department of English, the College of Liberal Arts and the university. An extraordinary teacher, he leads his students by example to demonstrate the majesty of writing.”
Stringer and southern Ohio poet Ron Houchin, whose book Museum Crows is also new from Salmon, just returned from a public reading in Galway, Ireland to launch both of their titles. They will appear together in Huntington in early December and elsewhere in West Virginia in the coming year.
Stringer said Human Costume sees the human figure as being costumed in flesh and feeling, by which human nature is both revealed and concealed. “The heart of the book,” he said, “is our seasonal celebration of Halloween on the eve of All Saints Day.” He said it was only after moving to West Virginia and experiencing the area’s elaborate rituals and celebrations of these holidays that he came to appreciate their connection.
Human Costume includes poems about nature, war, love, and art that have appeared over the past decade in journals such as The Ohio Review, Shenandoah, Antaeus, Denver Quarterly, Southern Poetry Review, and others.
The book was supported by a grant from Marshall University’s John Deaver Drinko Academy and is available at the Marshall bookstore and at http://www.salmonpoetry.com/humancostume.html.
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