Beth Ann Fennelly, Poet Laureate of Mississippi, will bring her written words to life on the campus of Warren County Community College (WCCC) this month. 

The WCCC Visiting Authors Series continues on Wednesday, November 29, with a reading and master class by Fennelly, poet and memoirist. The reading, beginning at 7:30 p.m. in room 123A, is free and open to the public.  

Fennelly currently serves as Poet Laureate of Mississippi. She teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Mississippi, where she was named Outstanding Teacher of the Year. She has received grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States Artists, a Pushcart Prize, and a Fulbright to Brazil.  Her poetry has appeared in over 50 anthologies, including Best American Poetry 1996, 2005, and 2006, The Book of Irish American Poetry from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, Poets of the New Century, and The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, and in textbooks such as Contemporary American Poetry and Literature.  She has published three poetry books with W. W. Norton: Open House, Tender Hooks, and Unmentionables, and a book of nonfiction, Great with Child.  The Tilted World, a novel she co-authored with her husband, Tom Franklin, was published by Harper Collins. Her most recent book, Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs, was published by Norton in October 2017. Fennelly and Franklin live in Oxford, Mississippi with their three children. 

Before giving a reading, Fennelly will conduct a master class at the college, commencing at 4 p.m. This event is also free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required. Interested attendees should contact BJ Ward at (908) 835-2531 or ward@warren.edu.

The evening reading will be followed by a brief Q & A with the audience and a book signing. Books will be available for purchase at the reading.

The WCCC Visiting Authors Series is supported by a grant from the Warren County Cultural and Heritage Commission. All facilities comply with ADA regulations and are fully accessible. Sign language interpreters are available with two weeks’ notice.

WCCC offers students the option of earning an Associate of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, the first and only degree of its kind in New Jersey and one of only five in the nation to be recognized as a viable A.F.A. by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). For more information about the Visiting Authors Series or the A.F.A. in Creative Writing, please visit www.warren.edu or call 908-835-9222.