Spectrum - Volume 19 Issue 10 October 31, 1996 - Writers to help feed needy

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Writers to help feed needy

By Sally Harris

Spectrum Volume 19 Issue 10 - October 31, 1996

Writers at Virginia Tech-and around the country-are trying to help remedy the problem of hunger in the world by focusing attention on it and raising money for Share Our Strength (SOS) through its annual Writer's Harvest: The National Reading.

The local reading will be at Virginia Tech's Volume Two Bookstore in the University Mall Thursday, Nov. 14 , at 7 p.m. A donation of $4 for students and $8 for the general public is recommended. Tickets will be on sale at Volume Two beforehand and at the door. Advanced purchase is recommended, but not required.

"Writers are in the business of providing food for the imagination and spirit," said Simone Poirier-Bures, a local writer who will participate in the reading. "But the body needs food, too. That's what Writer's Harvest for the hungry is all about."

Virginia Tech faculty members Katherine Soniat, Ed Falco, Lisa Norris, Gyorgyi Voros, Jeff Mann, Poirier-Bures, and Lucinda Roy will participate in the local reading as part of SOS's nationwide reading. SOS is the nation's leading anti-hunger organization that mobilizes industries and individuals to contribute their talents to fight hunger.

Since local writers and bookstore owners donate their time to organize the readings and companies such as American Express provide national sponsorship, SOS is able to distribute 100 percent of all event donations to local anti-hunger groups. The Virginia Tech readers last year raised $500, which put them in the top 5 percent of university readings.

All the Virginia Tech readers have published in poetry and fiction journals, and many have published books. Some of those books will be on sale the evening of the reading.

Soniat is the author of three books, including A Shared Life , a book of poetry that received the Edwin Ford Piper Award from the University of Iowa Press, and Notes of Departure , a book of poetry that won the Camden Poetry Prize given by The Walt Whitman Center for the Arts.

Falco is the author of four books, including Sea Island , a hypertext book of poetry published by Eastgate; and Acid , a collection of short stories that won the Richard Sullivan Prize from the University of Notre Dame..

For more information, call 1-5138.