New Book! Appearances and Readings

The new poetry book is here! Driving with the Dead is available from the University Press of Kentucky. The book is now available on Barnes and Noble and on Amazon. Also ready for Nook and Kindle! Locally, look for the book at Mr. K's Johnson City, Barnes & Noble, Johnson City, I Love Books, Kingsport, and The Merc at Emory & Henry College.

Contact Jane for signed copies.

 

 Praise for Driving With the Dead:

 "In an interview, the late Seamus Heaney once spoke of how the voices in his poems rose up from the ground on which he stood. So it is with Jane Hicks's poems in her new collection. They come together in 'Summer Rain' as a 'pooling of memory,' Even the ancient oaks have voices in this poem, and why shouldn't they? They are ancestors, too. Hicks's poems gather up the stories of family, those lost in war, a child killed by a boulder from an illegal strip mine, even the Opry's pickers and singers. Around them the mountains 'hold the sky where it belongs.' They hold these poems where they belong, as well, the bedrock of Hicks's language and vision." -- Kathryn Stripling Byer, former North Carolina poet laureate

"Hicks knows the idiom and flavor (and humor) of the mountains... This is a strong collection whose vitality derives from its crisp and particular language, its ample detail, its sense of perspective and wholeness, ultimately its artful rendering of experience that are authentically and memorably human. [These poems] are an appreciation of the sorrows and complexity of life not only in Appalachia, but anywhere." -- Richard Taylor, former Kentucky poet laureate

"Jane Hicks's new book is a wonderful collection of tightly written poems that do more to capture contemporary Appalachia than any book in a long while. This is a place of WalMarts and quilts, meth labs and country ham biscuits, a place where schoolteachers read Gerard Manley Hopkins to their students and where dignity is found in hard work. Driving With the Dead is a book about longing and loss but it never wallows in either. Instead it is a book that is just as much about hope, strength, survival, and the great pulsing beauty of a poet at the height of her powers writing about the lush complexity of her place and its people." -- Silas House, author of Clay's Quilt and Eli the Good

"'Go to the heart of things, therein irony does not reside,' Rilke tells us. Jane Hicks does that very thing in this stunning new collection, which ranges from the intensely personal to the political. Beautifully rendered, unfailingly wise, profound but never pretentious, Driving With the Dead is a book to be read and reread." -- Ron Rash, author of Serena: A Novel

 

 

 

 Bristol Public Library: April 13, 2014  2:00. Jane will read along with friends, Janice Hornburg and Gretchen McCroskey to celebrate National Poetry Month.

 Down Home Pickin' Parlor: July 14, 7:00. Jane will read with poets, Hilda Downer and Melody Davis. Hear previews from the new book, due out any minute!

 Morris Book Shop: Lexington, Ky August 10, 2:00. First public reading for Driving with the Dead, along with George Ella Lyon, who wrote the introduction.

WDVX Radio, Tennessee Shines: August 25 , 7:00-8:30. Jane will have a short guest spot. Bonus! Musical guest is Jim Lauderdale. Live and streaming. http://wdvx.com

  Union Avenue Books: Knoxville, TN, September 6, 2:00. A wonderful bookstore! http://unionavebooks.com

  Southern Festival of Books: Nashville, TN, October 10-12. I will be on a panel at 3:00-4:00 on Friday, Ocotber 10, with Bill Brown.

http://www.humanitiestennessee.org/programs/southern-festival-books-celebration-written-word

 Mountain Makins Festival:Morristown, TN, October 25-26. 

Malaprops Bookstore: Ashville, NC. November 2, 3:00. Poetrio, three poets at three o'clock. Check out the website. http://malaprops.com 

 Tales of the Lonesome Pine: Big Stone Gap, VA, November 8. Featuring writers from SAWC (Southern Applalchian Writers Cooperative). More details to follow.

Kentucky Book Fair: Frankfurt, Kentucky, November 15. http://kybookfair.blogsport.com 

City Lights Bookstore: Sylva, NC. November 20, 10:00. Coffee with the Poet. http://citylightsnc.com

Check City Lights website for a podcast of this event. 

 

2015

The Mildred Haun Conference: Walters State Community College, Morristown, TN. February 6-7.

Appalachian Studies Association: East Tennessee State University, March 27-29. Panel on Saturday 28, and signing at the University Perss of Kentucky booth on Saturday at 5:00-6:00 p.m.  DP Culp Center. 

Jack Higgs Reading Series: East Tennessee State University, Ball Hall Auditorium, April 8, 7:30-9:00 p.m. Honoring Dr. Jack Higgs, with Rita Quillen.

Berea College: Community writing wrokshop. April 16. 6:30-8:30.

 Appalachian Writers Series: Historic, Rugby,TN, April 25, 6:30. Celebrating National Poetry Month.

 http://www.historicrugby.org/events/event/writers-series-appalachian-poet-jane-hicks/

 Mountain Heritage Literary Festival: Lincoln Memorial University Harrogate, TN. June 12-14. Jane will be leading a poetryworkshop.

http://www.lmunet.edu/mhl

Knoxvile Writers Guild: August 22, 1:00-3:30. http://www.knoxvillewritersguild.org/events/working-sound-facet-revision

Milligan College: September 1, 7:00 p.m. Details to follow.

The Appalachian Symposium: Berea, KY. September 9-10. Readings and panels by many contemporary Applachian writers. Free and open to the public. Jane will be on a panel on September 10. http://www.berea.edu/appalachian-center/as15/

2016

Western Carolina Spring Literary Festival: April 6, 7:00 p.m.

Appalachian Reading Series: April 22, 7:00 p.m. Cumberland Gap, TN, Convention Center. Sponsored by Lincoln Memorial University and Southwest Community College and Technical School, Middlesboro, KY campus.

 

 

 

 The schedule is evolving by the minute. Check back often.