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Poet Diane Gilliam Fisher Visits ASU April 19

Story by Celeste von Mangan

As part of the Visiting Writer’s Series, poet Diane Gilliam Fisher is coming to Appalachian on Thursday, April 19. From 2:00 to 3:15 p.m. she will discuss What History Means to Me: Writing Poems From History. At 7:30 p.m., she will read from her award-winning book Kettle Bottom. Both events will be held in the Table Rock Room in the Plemmons Student Union.

Fisher’s collection of poetry is set during the West Virginia coal mine wars of 1920 to 1921. Kettle Bottom is about a community that lived in the shadow of constant danger and about the choices residents made, set against the hard realities of economic injustice.

“Diane’s done a lot of historical research on West Virginia coal miners,” said Sandy Ballard, editor of Appalachian Journal. “In her family and extended family she has connections to coal miners. In the book Kettle Bottom she uses the voices of children and mining families to talk about mining in a personal way, not only the miners but their children, mothers, sisters and wives. She uses a very compelling voice in her poetry, quiet, but in a powerful way.

“She sees a metaphor in so many things,” Ballard continued. “For example, when she was speaking about floods, she compared a flood to poetry; when there is a flood, things are displaced, with items from a kitchen washing down the waterway, but not lost; Diane explains what literature and poetry does for us is to help us to see things we thought were lost and to see things in a different way.”

Fisher was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and is currently a visiting professor at Converse College in South Carolina. Her family was part of the Appalachian out-migration from Mingo County, W.V. and Johnson County, Ky.

The afternoon presentation and evening reading are free and open to the public. A free shuttle van service is available to transport afternoon participants to and from the presentation. The shuttle leaves the Rivers Street Parking Deck at 1:45 p.m. and returns at 3:20 p.m. Two hours of parking cost $3. Parking at ASU is free after 5:00 p.m.

For more information call 828-262-2337.

Want To Go?

Date: Thursday, April 19
Time: 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Location: Table Rock Room, Plemmons Students Union, ASU
Cost: Free

Cutline for diane gilliam fisher:

The mining term kettle bottom refers to a smooth, rounded piece of rock that can drop out of the roof of a mine without warning. Diane Gilliam Fisher’s 2004 Kettle Bottom is an award-winning book of poetry about West Virginia coal miners. Fisher will give two presentations at ASU on Thursday, April 19.