Kestrel launches issue 39 with events to celebrate writing

Kestrel: A Journal of Literature and Art, the Fairmont State University Department of Language and Literature, and the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center will host a two-day symposium on the special theme of Issue 39, “Loved Labors Lost.” 

Supported by a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council, twelve contributors to Kestrel39 will be on campus to participate in class visits, panel discussions, readings from their own works, and book signings. Visiting poets and writers include Ken Been, Carrie Conners, Marc Harshman, Andrew Jarvis, Paige Menton, Elizabeth Robinson, Jim Ross, Sean Sexton, Savannah Sipple, Max Stephan, J. C. Todd, Doug Van Gundy, and Eric Waggoner.

On Friday, September 21, from 2-2:50 p.m. in the Folklife Center, Dr. Elizabeth Savage will moderate a panel discussion on the issue’s theme, “Loved Labors Lost in Appalachia” and beyond. “Labor,” as Dr. Elizabeth Savage writes in the issue’s introduction, “is recognized suffering. People may love their jobs, but loved labor is unusual.” The issue reveals in expansive, surprising ways how people make a living. The symposium will offer interpretive conversations about what the literature explores. Admission to the panel discussion is free and open to the public. 

On Friday evening, Kestrel will host a reception and readings at the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. featuring writers from the issue.Admission to this event is free and open to the public.

On Saturday, September 22, readings, discussions, and book-signings will take place at the Joe N’ Throw,323 1/2 Adams Street, Fairmont, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. featuring more writers from the issue. Light fare will be served. Admission to this event is free and open to the public.

For more information about events or visiting writers, contact Dr. Donna Long at donna.long@fairmontstate.edu.

KestrelFrank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center