Hughes Lecture Series Presents 'An Afternoon with Kari Gunter-Seymour'

Share WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. — West Liberty University is excited to announce a special fall semester Hughes Lecture Series poetry event with award-winning poet and immediate past Poet Laureate of Ohio, Kari Gunter-Seymour. Gunter-Seymour will visit West Liberty University on Monday, October 5th at noon in the Elbin Library Alumni Wall of Honor Alcove to deliver a poetry reading from her highly anticipated forthcoming collection All That Teethes Within from University of Kentucky Press. A book sale and signing will follow the reading. Later in the afternoon, she will meet with students in Dr. W. Scott Hanna's creative writing class for a Q&A and writing workshop. Gunter-Seymour served as the poet laureate of Ohio from 2020 to 2025 and is the executive director of the Women of Appalachia Project. As per the poet's website, her award-winning poetry collections include 'Dirt Songs (EastOver Press, 2024) winner of the 2025 Bronze IPPY Award for Poetry, 2025 NYC Big Book Award, 2025 Feathered Quill Award, 2025 National Federation of Press Women Award, 2024 POTY Author of the Year Award and STORYTRADE Award; Alone in the House of My Heart (Ohio University Swallow Press, 2022), winner of the 2024 Legacy Award, the 2023 Best Book Award, and finalist for the 2023 National Indie Excellence Award; and A Place So Deep Inside America It Can't Be Seen (Sheila Na Gig Editions, 2020), winner of the 2020 Ohio Poet of the Year Award' (KariGunterSeymourPoet.com). In addition, her poems have appeared in The New York Times, Verse Daily, and World Literature Today. Her new collection All That Teethes Within officially debuts on October 6th. Publisher University of Kentucky Press describes the book as follows: 'In All That Teethes Within, poet Kari Gunter-Seymour translates the poignant complexity of loss into words. This exploration of heartache is layered with the poet's Appalachian identity and overflows with sadness and anger toward the forces that cause societal and environmental damage in the region. The poems mourn a loved one's sudden passing, opportunity missed due to poverty or gender inequality, and the piece of one's identity that vanishes or fades with age.' Advanced praise for Gunter-Seymour's new book by poet Jesse Graves touts, 'The poems offer no easy consolations but instead confront something more valuable: how to live with our suffering after unconsolable loss and how to survive when one we love ends their own life. All That Teethes Within is an essential book of poems by one of our most brave and true poets, and I read it through and again with gratitude for Kari Gunter-Seymour's strength and vision' (kentuckypress.com). 'We are very excited to welcome Kari to campus to share her writing wisdom with students and to read from her forthcoming collection. She gave a stunning virtual reading during our 2020 Hughes Lecture that was forced online because of Covid. So, it is very exciting to be able to welcome Kari in-person to the Hilltop,' said Dr. W. Scott Hanna, professor of English and Coordinator of the Hughes Lecture Series. In anticipation of her visit to West Liberty, Gunter-Seymour states, 'I am so very honored and pleased to be visiting the West Liberty campus for this special fall semester Hughes Lecture Series poetry event. I look forward to spending time with students, faculty, staff and those I might meet from the surrounding community. My work has always challenged stereotypes and all kinds of 'isms.' This new collection tackles the topic of loss and grief, and weaves in elements of nature, family, friendships, the land, and wildlife as a means to explore heartache and bring about healing.' The Hughes Lecture Series is an annual tradition at West Liberty, dating back to the early 1970's. Named after legendary English Professor Raymond Hughes and made possible by his generous endowment, the series has welcomed a wide range of speakers throughout the decades, including Homer Hickham, Jeannette Walls, David Sheff, Jayne Ann Phillips, Marc Harshman, Silas House, Maggie Smith, and many others. The reading will take place on October 5th, 2026 in the Elbin Library Alumni Alcove at 12:00pm. As has become a Hughes Lecture tradition, Gunter-Seymour will be introduced by West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman. A book sale and signing will follow the reading where attendees will have the opportunity to purchase books and to meet the author. The event is free and open to the public. West Liberty University blends a small-town environment with a comprehensive college experience, fostering students' aspirations through hands-on learning, personalized support, and unique academic programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels. To apply or learn more about West Liberty University, visit westliberty.edu. Media Contact: Rhone Thrash West Liberty University rhone.thrash@westliberty.edu Share