The WKU English Department hopes you will join us for the 28^th annual Mary Ellen and Jim Wayne Miller Celebration of Writing on Sunday, October 27, in Cherry Hall 125 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., followed by a reception in Cherry Hall 101.

This year’s event is focused on poetry and will feature guest writer and contest judge Curtis L. Crisler, the Indiana State Poet Laureate. Crisler’s collective works include poetry and young adult fiction, often centered on themes of identity, race, and the Midwestern urban experience. His latest book, Doing Drive-Bys on How to Find Love in the Midwest, won the C&R Press Award for poetry. Other notable works include The GReY aLBuM [PoeMS], Tough Boy Sonatas, and Don’t Moan So Much (Songs of the Middle Class). In addition to reading from his recent work, Crisler will name the first, second, and third place winners of our student writing contest.

The 10 undergraduate finalists were chosen by a panel of WKU English professors. The finalists will participate in a workshop with Crisler before the ceremony. The finalists and their pieces, in alphabetical order, are:

• Macey Basil – “Prodigal Noise”
• Noel Baskin – “Elegy for a Cyborg”
• Taryn Deckard – “1 Corinthians 6:19-20”
• Emmy Dock – “Gilded Cage”
• Henry Johnson – “Talent Show Innings”
• Jessica Levine – “God Starts a Blog with an Honest Review of the King James Bible: A Collage of My Favorite Books' One-Star Goodreads Reviews"
• Caden McGill – “Understanding Gatsby”
• Kate Richardson – “In Between”
• Josh St. Peter – “My Parents Forced Me to Attend Catholic Mass the Sunday After the Attempted Trump Assassination and Father Larry Said Trump is a Prophet Sent by God"
• Chesney Wright – “Rage and the First Teenage Girl”

If you would like to know more about events happening in the WKU English Department, please reference the WKU English Department website under our Calendar of Events. Good luck to all the finalists and we hope to see you there!