Poetry reading, book release scheduled at Missouri Southern

(From Southern News Service)

The English and Philosophy department at Missouri Southern State University will present a poetry reading and book release of “Slowly/Suddenly” by Allison Blevins, author and Missouri Southern adjunct professor, at 7 p.m on Thursday, Nov. 18 in MSSU’s North End Zone facility, room 205.

While “Slowly/Suddenly” is Blevins’ first full-length poetry collection, she has written the chapbooks “Susurration,” “Letters to Joan” and “A Season for Speaking” as well.

According to Blevins, “Slowly/Suddenly” deals with trauma, disabilities and queer experience. “Even if you’re not a poetry reader, you can still get something from a poetry reading. Just listen. You can get so much from the sound and rhythm.”

Blevins serves as the director of Small Harbor Publishing and the executive editor at the museum of americana, an online literary review dedicated to fiction, poetry, nonfiction, photography, and artwork that examines unknown aspects of Americana.

Her work has appeared in the journals “Mid-American Review,” “The Minnesota Review,” “Raleigh Review” and “Sinister Wisdom.”

She has been nominated for the Stephen Meats Poetry Prize, the Stanley Hank Memorial Prize, the Best of the Net, and the Pushcart Prize. She has also been a finalist for the Cowles Poetry Book Prize, the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, the Glass Chapbook Series, the Wicked Woman Poetry Prize from BrickHouse Books, and the Moon City Poetry Award.