Pence to Deliver Hamner Lecture

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Posted on September 13, 2017

Alice Jackson

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Dr. Charlotte Pence, the new director of the Stokes Center for Creative Writing at the University of South Alabama, will deliver the 15th Annual Eugenie L. Hamner Lecture for the Graduate Program in English, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14, in the University Faculty Club.

Pence will discuss her first book of poems, “Many Small Fires,” a 2015 Foreword Reviews Poetry Book of the Year and a finalist for the 2016 Eric Hoffer Book Award. The book explores her father’s chronic homelessness while simultaneously detailing the physiological changes that enabled humans to form cities, communities and households.

Pence joined the department of English faculty in August. As director of the Stokes Center she leads two full-time and three affiliated faculty members in teaching a variety of writing genres, including poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, creative writing, contemporary publishing, Southern culture and history, and screenwriting.

“Professor Pence has already, in a very short time, brought inspirational leadership to the Stokes Center,” said Dr. Steve Trout, chair of English. “She is exactly the kind of artist and academic that we need at the helm of this major initiative.”

The Stokes Center for Creative Writing is funded by donations from Dr. Steven H. Stokes, chair pro tempore emeritus of the Board of Trustees, and his wife, Angelia Stokes. In addition to supporting faculty, the Stokes Center enhances the English department by sponsoring readings, lectures, forums, community projects and other events that are free and open to the public. It also supports students through its undergraduate and graduate awards in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. Additionally, it funds visits by national, regional and local writers throughout the year.

Pence is also the author of two award-winning poetry chapbooks and the editor of “The Poetics of American Song Lyrics.” Her poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction have recently been published in “Harvard Review,” “Sewanee Review,” “Southern Review,”  and “Brevity.”

For more information on Pence’s work, visit www.charlottepence.com.

 

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