12th Annual Literary Festival and Poetry Slam at University of Mount Olive

The Language and Literature Department and Sigma Tau Delta will present the 12th annual Literary Festival and Poetry Slam on March 12 and 13. The two day event, which fosters a love of literature and writing on the University of Mount Olive campus, is free and open to the public.

On March 12, the Literary Festival will showcase accomplished poet Richard Chess at 7:00 PM in Southern Bank Auditorium. Chess is the author of three books of poetry including Third Temple (2007), Chair in the Desert (2000), and Tekiah (1994). His poems have appeared in many journals, as well as several anthologies including Bearing the Mystery: 25 Years of Image, Best American Spiritual Writing 2005, and Telling and Remembering: A Century of American-Jewish Poetry.

Chess is the 2012-2013 Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet of Western North Carolina, an appointment made by the North Carolina Poetry Society. An award winning and much-sought after teacher, he is the Roy Carroll Professor of Honors Arts and Sciences and Professor of Literature and Language at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. He also directs UNCA’s Center for Jewish Studies.

The Poetry Slam, which showcases University of Mount Olive students, will take place on March 13, at 7:00 PM in Southern Bank Auditorium. Students wishing to participate in the slam must register in advance. There is an entrance fee of $1.00 to enter the contest. The winner will receive a $100 cash prize.

For more information, or to register for the Poetry Slam, please contact Professor Lenard Moore at lmoore@moc.edu or 919-658-2502.

University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The College, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Goldsboro, Research Triangle Park, Washington and Jacksonville. For more information, visit www.moc.edu.