ASU Visiting Writers Series begins Sept. 6

A look at urban farming opens the Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series at Appalachian State University for fall 2012.

Novella Carpenter, author of “Farm City,” will speak on Thursday, Sept. 6, at 7:30 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Blue Ridge Ballroom.

Carpenter’s book chronicles her efforts to live off the land on the fringes of an urban ghetto in Oakland, Calif. Her efforts to have a sustainable source of food for herself – with some for friends and neighbors, as well – sends her down a path inspired by Henry Thoreau, Euell Gibbons and her mother.

The experiment to eat exclusively from her urban squat farm tries her will and ingenuity, while bolstering her spirit with a sense of connection with all around her. Carpenter is also the recent co-author with Willow Rosenthal of “The Essential Urban Farmer,” a “how-to” guide for both novice and experienced city gardeners.

Carpenter also will be the guest speaker at Appalachian’s fall convocation Sept. 6 at 10 a.m. at the Holmes Convocation Center. “Farm City” was this year’s summer reading program selection for incoming freshmen. She also will participate in a question and answer panel discussion at 2 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Calloway/MacRae Peak Room (first floor, room 137).

Admission is free, and the public is invited to attend all events. Book sales and signing will follow Carpenter’s presentations at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Other speakers in the fall series are novelist, poet and biographer Robert Morgan on Thursday, Sept. 27; fiction writer and editor Gurney Norman, who also will be the Rachel Rivers Coffey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing fall semester, on Thursday, Oct. 4; and poet and essayist C.S. Giscombe on Thursday, Oct. 25.

Books sales and signing will follow each author’s presentation.

The Fall 2012 Visiting Writers Series is supported by the Appalachian State University Foundation, the Office of Academic Affairs, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English, the Summer Reading Program, the University Bookstore, Belk Library and the Appalachian Journal.

Business sponsors are The Gideon Ridge Inn and The Red Onion Restaurant. Community sponsors include John and Marjorie Idol, Paul and Judy Tobin, Alice Naylor, Thomas McLaughlin and The High Country Writers.

The Visiting Writers Series is named in honor of Hughlene Bostian Frank, class of 1968, trustee and generous supporter of Appalachian State University.

To read on-line excerpts from the visiting writers’ works, visit http://www.library.appstate.edu, click “Reserves,” and then enter “Visiting Writers Series” as the instructor or course name. If needed, use the password, “asuwriters.”

Parking is free on campus after 5 p.m. The College Street parking deck adjacent to Belk Library provides the closest access to the student union.

For more parking information or a map, visit http://www.parking.appstate.edu or call the Parking and Traffic Office at (828) 262-2878.

For more information on the fall season, call (828) 262-2871 or visit http://www.visitingwriters.appstate.edu.