Harshman was appointed in 2012 as the seventh poet laureate of West Virginia. He is, besides being a poet, the author of 14 nationally acclaimed children’s books including “Fallingwater: The Building of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Masterpiece,” co-authored with Anna Smucker and subsequently named an Amazon Book of the Month.
His previous titles have included “The Storm,” a Smithsonian Notable Book, and collections of poetry, including “Woman in Red Anorak,” winner of the Blue Lynx Prize from Lynx House/University of Washington, and “Believe What You Can,” winner of the Weatherford Award from the Appalachian Studies Association. His fifth full-length collection of poems, “Dispatch from the Mountain State,” has just been published by West Virginia University Press.
He is co-winner of the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award and holds degrees from Bethany College, Yale University Divinity School, and the University of Pittsburgh. For many years, he taught fifth and sixth grades in a three-room school in rural Marshall County, West Virginia.
Moore’s newest poetry collection, “Amanda Chimera,” came out in January 2025 and won Madville Publishing’s Arthur Smith prize. Prior poetry books include “Dear If,” Orison Books 2022, a contest finalist; “Flicker,” winner of the Dogfish Head Prize in 2016; “The Book Of Snow,” Cleveland State U Poetry Center, 1997; and prize-winning chapbooks “Amanda and the Man Soul” and “Eating the Light.” She is a retired Marshall University professor.
“Hosting our very own West Virginia Poet Laureate is the kind of dream come true that brings so much pride not only to Marshall, but to the literary scene of West Virginia,” said Sara Henning, coordinator of the A.E. Stringer Visiting Writers Series. “The same is true of hosting a beloved professor emerita. Both Marc and Mary have forged legacies of excellence for our state and our university.
“As a series coordinator and English professor, I have learned that transformative learning happens when students see themselves reflected on the stage and on the page. Bringing a much-loved Marshall professor and Poet Laureate to campus reminds us that West Virginia is a hotspot of literary activity, but also that voices so close to us sing here and across the Appalachian region. We are happy to welcome both Mary and Marc home.”
The event is presented by Marshall University with support from the Department of English and is free and open to the public.