Poet Kathy Ackerman will speak and read from her poetry at Lanier Library’s Brown Bag Lunch on Tuesday, April 21, as the library celebrates National Poetry Month.

Ackerman was a featured poet at last year’s inaugural Lanier Library Poetry Festival and will return for this year’s festival, April 24-25, to read her poetry and to lead a workshop on chapbook publishing.

Born in Ohio, Ackerman is a Tryon resident, having lived in the Carolinas for the last 30 years. She holds a Ph.D. in literature and is writer-in-residence and dean of Arts and Sciences at Isothermal Community College in Spindale.

Her books of poetry include “Coal River Road” (2013) as well as three chapbooks: “The Time It Takes,” “Crossbones and Princess Lace” and “Knock Wood.” She was last year’s runner-up for the Ron Rash Award in Poetry.

Ackerman has also written a scholarly book, “The Heart of Revolution: The Radical Life and Novels of Olive Dargan.” Dargan was a prolific southern writer who spent the last part of her life in North Carolina where she wrote two significant novels about the men and women of the mountains who went to work in the textile mills.

The Brown Bag Lunch will begin at noon in the library, and is free and open to the public. For more information about library events or becoming a member, please visit  www.lanierlib.org, or call 828-859-9535.

– Submitted by Gina Malone