Louise Morgan Runyon Poetry Reading
Sylva resident Louise Morgan Runyon will release her fifth book of poems, Where Is Our Prague Spring?, on October 1, 2022. This book examines Runyon's deep love for the mountains of Western North Carolina; her childhood experience of love here; and her attempts to reconcile this love with the hatred and division found in the present. A great-niece of Lucy Morgan, founder of the renowned Penland School of Crafts, Runyon honors her visionary and activist family in these poems.
The in-person launch will be Saturday, November 5, 4 p.m., at City Lights Bookstore, 3 E. Jackson Street, Sylva, NC 28779. Attendees are requested to wear masks.
Says poet Catherine Carter of Western Carolina University, “…Runyon interrogates the place and her family’s long history there to illuminate a complicated tradition of Appalachian progressivism dating both back to and forward from the Trail of Tears. These thoughtful poems evoke an Appalachia that few outsiders know: simultaneously progressive and conservative, woven into the wider world in unexpected ways, and rooted deeply in the labor and vision of women.” Kami Ahrens of Foxfire Museum notes, “Runyon's manner of writing engages the reader in conversations about contemporary themes that reflect stories of the past while providing lessons for the future. A must-read for any lover of Appalachian literature.”
Louise Morgan Runyon was born and raised in New York City but grew up at Penland School in the summertime. She lived most of her adult life in Atlanta before coming back to western North Carolina in 2019. A dancer and choreographer as well as poet, she is Artistic Director of Louise Runyon Performance Company. The publication of her new book is supported by the Jackson County Arts Council.