Special Report to Blowing Rock News from University News Service. August 20, 2011. BOONE—Appalachian State University creative writing professor Joseph Bathanti has been named writer-in-residence in Watauga Global Community where he will establish and direct Writing in the Field, a new creative writing initiative focused on site-based creative nonfiction. His appointment is through fall 2014.  

Bathanti will begin building the program this fall, establishing contacts and potential sites ranging from the former Black Mountain College in operation from 1933-56 in Swannanoa, N.C., to Tuscany.

Bathanti is the author of six books of poetry: “Communion Partners,” “Anson County,” “The Feast of All Saints,” “This Metal” (nominated for the National Book Award), “Land of Amnesia” and “Restoring Sacred Art” (winner of the 2010 Roanoke Chowan Prize). His novel “East Liberty” won the 2001 Carolina Novel Award. His latest novel, “Coventry,” won the 2006 Novello Literary Award. His book of stories, “The High Heart,” won the 2006 Spokane Prize. “They Changed the State: The Legacy of North Carolina’s Visiting Artists, 1971-95,” his book of nonfiction, was published in early 2007.

Bathanti is the recipient of Literature Fellowships from the North Carolina Arts Council in 1994 for poetry and in 2009 for fiction; The Samuel Talmadge Ragan Award, presented annually for outstanding contributions to the Fine Arts of North Carolina over an extended period; a Fellowship from The Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry; the Bruno Arcudi Literature Prize; the Ernest A. Lynton Faculty Award for Professional Service and Academic Outreach; the Aniello Lauri Award for Creative Writing in 2001 and 2007; the Linda Flowers Prize; the Sherwood Anderson Award; the Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Prize; the 2011 Donald Murray Prize; and others. He was recently named the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for the Western Region for the North Carolina Poetry Society for 2011-12.

He has taught at Appalachian since 2001.

Watauga Global Community is a unit within Appalachian’s University College. Its core classes  focus on significant local issues in Watauga County and  the beginning of an understanding of local to global connections. Global refers to the program’s strong international focus in both its curricular and co-curricular components. Faculty, staff and students form a strong, supportive community who share common goals and concerns.

Classes emphasize analytical reading and writing, creative research, and individual and group projects leading to public presentations.

 

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