Duarte-Gray’s work focuses on Latinx literary production and book history. Her first poetry collection, Even Shorn, debuted with Sarabande Brooks and was included in the Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2021. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Russian from Amherst College, and a Ph.D. in English from Harvard University.
McElmurray’s memoir, Surrendered Child, won the AWP Award Series for Creative Nonfiction and was listed as a notable book by the National Book Critics Circle. She’s the author of multiple novels, including Wanting Radiance (University Press of Kentucky, 2020), and a memoir-in-essays called Voice Lessons (Iris Press, 2021). She holds a bachelor’s degree from Berea College and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.
Dr. Rachael Peckham, professor of English and coordinator of the Stringer Visiting Writers Series at Marshall, organized the reading.
“To hear these two highly accomplished Kentucky-based writers read together is pretty exciting,” Peckham said. “Although their work is very different, in terms of genre and approach, I think the audience will recognize the themes, events and characters that were inspired by the writers’ mutual experiences, growing up in Appalachia. I can already picture the audience nodding along, leaning forward in their seats.”
The reading, which is free and open to the public, also can be viewed online at www.facebook.com/stringervwsmu.