Award-winning poet and author Jeff Mann to read from his works at Virginia Tech

Award-winning poet and author Jeff Mann of the Virginia Tech Department of English will be reading from his works at the Volume II bookstore on April 8 at 7: p.m.

With three award-winning poetry chapbooks to his credit, Mann has now published a full book of poetry, Bones Washed with Wine. This book was published by Gival Press, an award-winning independent publishing house that publishes the work of poets and authors "who demonstrate quality and whose work has a message, be it philosophical or social."

Mann will be reading from this book as well as two other works that were published within the last year: Edge, a collection of essays, (Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press); and a novella, Devoured, which was included in an anthology called Masters of Midnight (New York, NY: Kensington Books).

Mann is a native of Southwest Virginia and has won several other prizes for his poetry. They include first place in the 2000 Literal Latte Food Verse Award, the 1999 Poetic Matrix Chapbook Series award for his chapbook Mountain Fireflies, second place in Now and Then's 2002 Appalachian Poetry Competition, and first place in the Key West Writing Contest in Poetry, for which his work appeared in Key West: A Collection.

Mann's poems and essays have been published in many magazines and anthologies, including Christopher Street, Poet Lore, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, Appalachian Heritage, Scottish Life, Appalachian Journal, and BlackWater Review. His fiction and non-fiction have also been published in Rebel Yell: Stories by Contemporary Southern Gay Authors and The Harrington Gay Men's Fiction Quarterly.

Mann’s poem "The Ladies Mile Pub," written during a Virginia Tech Study Abroad visit to England, was published in the Tenth Anniversary Issue of Kestrel. Kestrel is a literary magazine published by Fairmont State College in Fairmont, West Virginia.

An assistant professor at Virginia Tech, Mann will be interviewing famous poet Mark Doty during the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, scheduled for May 7-9, 2004 in New Orleans. He will also chair a panel, "Recreating Our Forebears: Queer Poetry, Queer History" and give a reading from his work.

A graduate of West Virginia University, Mann teaches courses in Appalachian folk culture, and creative writing (fiction and poetry).