Fiction writer to give reading at Greenly Center

Crystal Wilkinson, short fiction writer and a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, will read from her work Thursday, April 2, at 6:30 p.m. on the first floor of the Greenly Center, 50 E. Main Street. The reading is free and open to the public.

 Wilkinson helped found the Affrilachian Poets Society in 1991. The society embraces a multicultural influence, a spectrum of people who consider Appalachia to be their home or identify strongly with the trials and triumphs of being of the Appalachian region.

Wilkinson has published a number of works and has received several awards for her writing. Her story, “Blackberries, Blackberries,” won the 2002 Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature and “Water Street” was a finalist for the United Kingdom’s Orange Prize for fiction and Hurston/Wright Legacy Award.

In addition, Wilkinson won the Danny Plattner Award for Poetry from Appalachian Heritage Magazine and the Sallie Bingham Award from the Kentucky Foundation for Women for the promotion of activism and artistic expression.

 Wilkinson’s visit marks the first event to be held in the new Greenly Center in downtown Bloomsburg. Other cultural events, including art exhibits and gallery receptions, are expected to follow. The reading is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of English. For more information, contact Jerry Wemple, professor of English, at jwemple@bloomu.edu.