With the Young Writer’s Conference underway this week, UTM had the privilege and honor of welcoming award-winning poet, Dr. Marilyn Kallet to give a seminar and help guide workshops for the record number of high school seniors who will be attending these workshops on Friday.
Kallet is the director of the Creative Writing program at UT-Knoxville and was inducted into the East Tennessee Literary Hall of Fame in 2005. The most recent of her fifteen books “Packing Light: New and Selected Poems” came out in 2009. Her upcoming release “Love That Moves Me” is set to be out in February of 2013.
In between promoting her latest book, finishing up her newest book, and preparing for the Young Writer’s Conference, Kallet took some time to visit the McCombs Center to read some of her works, and share some of the experiences that being a writer has gifted her with.
The Tennessee Room was filled with various members of the Martin community, from professors, to students, to members of the community who were thrilled with Kallet’s visit. She read several poems from her latest book and some from earlier works, and all were met with either hysterical laughter or thunderous applause.
After the readings, she did a question and answer segment and shed some light on how she got started in poetry. Like most students, while she was in college, she made a connection with one of her professors who became somewhat of a mentor to her. After that, she began writing what she described as “really bad” poems during her undergraduate studies, but once she made it to graduate school, she began to take her writing much more seriously and starting working to better her craft.
Between spending time during the Fall and Spring semesters at Knoxville and the Summers teaching at the Virginia Center for the Creative Art in Auvillar, France, one would imagine that it would be difficult finding the time for personal writing. However, Kallet remarks that “very boring faculty meetings can be very productive for a poet.”
All in all, the event turned out very well for all of those involved. Kallet, as well as the English Department, was very pleased with the large turnout, and all of those who came out thoroughly enjoyed the evening festivities.
For more information about Kallet or her upcoming book release, go to http://www.marilynkallet.com/
