Author Reading Series
Check out the amazing writers sharing their talents with Longwood University
S.A. Cosby
Rescheduled: Spring 2027
S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the instant New York Times bestseller All the Sinners Bleed which was on Barack Obama's Summer Reading List and author of New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.
Jes Simmons
Wednesday, February 4th, 7pm at the Moton Museum, with a reception and book signing afterwards
Jes Simmons is a second-generation poet and jazz drummer who cherishes and nourishes rhythm and syncopation that have been a constant in her life. She holds a B.A. Millsaps College, M.A.,Mississippi College and PhD., Texas A&M University, all in English. Her father, Edgar Simmons, was an English teacher and notable Mississippi poet whose second book Driving to Biloxi was a finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry in 1968.
Jes has had poems published in the College English Association Critic, Mississippi Arts and Letters, College English, Cornfed Angel, Magnolia State Quarterly Review, James Dickey Newsletter, Natchez Trace Literary Review, Salome, River City Review, and Sojourners, as well as in anthologies such as Mississippi Writers: Reflections of Childhood and Youth, Mud Flat Verse, and The Southern Poetry Anthology. Jes has made Farmville, Virginia her chosen home since 2013.
Torli Bush
Wednesday, March 26th, 7pm at the Moton Museum, with a reception and book signing afterwards
Torli Bush is from Webster Springs, WV and is a poetry editor for Heartwood Literary Magazine. Bush holds a Bachelor's of Science in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University and an MFA in Creative Writing from West Virginia Wesleyan College.
He will be reading from Requiem For A Redbird which weaves together loss, intimacy, faith, race, politics, and Appalachia into a collection of poems.
Torli Book Club Sessions
March 4th, 6:30pm
March 11th, 6:30pm
March 18th, 6:30pm
Moton Museum
The Authors Reading Series and Moton Museum are coming together to offer a prepartory book club prior to Torli Bush's visit to Longwood.
Join us as we explore Requiem for a Redbird. This book is unapologetically both Appalachian and Black.