REMINDER: poety editor Elizabeth Savage at Monongalia Arts Center tonight

Author, educator and poetry editor Elizabeth Savage will be featured with Morgantown Poets at 7 p.m. tonight Thursday (March 18) at Monongalia Arts Center (MAC).

The event is free and open to the public. The MAC is at 107 High Street, downtown Morgantown (beside Hotel Morgan).

Savage is an associate professor of English and co-director of women’s studies at Fairmont State University where she has been on the faculty since 2001. She is also the poetry editor for Kestrel: A Journal of Literature & Art.

Savage was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship from Virginia Commission for the Arts for her series, “Jamestown Koan,” a collection of poems the author sees as “filling in the emotional cracks” of Jamestown’s early history. “Jamestown Koan” was recently published by Connotation Press. The fellowship encouraged Savage to continue working in the series form. Recently, this interest has led to a collaborative project with photographer Tim Berg entitled “The Book of Lonely Chairs.”

The author has devoted most of her recent writing to critical work on poetry. Her book manuscript, “True Value Expands: Lorine Niedecker, Gender, and Cultural Worth,” is close to completion. She has also completed a poetry manuscript, “Blue Bison.” Poems from this collection, as well as new work, have been published or are forthcoming in The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Court Green, Jelly Bucket, and Connotation Press.

Savage was born and raised in Richmond, Va. She previously taught at Virginia Commonwealth University after defending a dissertation in innovative feminist poetics. In Virginia, the author worked with the Richmond Women’s Poetry Workshop, a group closely connected with the Virginia Museum.

Public parking is available near the MAC in the parking garage at the corner of Pleasant and Chestnut streets and at the city lot behind 142 High Street (enter off Spruce). The MAC is accessible to individuals with special mobility requirements; schedule ahead at least seven days prior to the event by calling 304-292-3325, or write to info@monartscenter.com.

Morgantown Poets is an informal not-for-profit, all-volunteer community group that meets 7-9 p.m. the third Thursday each month at the MAC, providing literary enthusiasts in north-central West Virginia the opportunity to express themselves, share their work, network and to connect up-and-coming writers with more established authors. New writers are welcome. Join on Facebook by entering “Morgantown Poets” in the search. Or join the mailing list at morgantownpoets@yahoo.com or the listserve, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/motownpoetry.