Rita Quillen
NOTE: This is a new location. The talk has been moved to the Bristol Public Library because of a scheduling conflict at its original location.
Arts Alliance Mountain Empire hosts Rita Quillen Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. at Bristol Public Library, Bristol, Virginia.
She speaks about her new book “Wayland,” the sequel to “Hiding Ezra.” “Wayland” is the story of a perfect life interrupted by a chance encounter with pure evil. Eva and Andrew Nettles are a couple who found each other in the unlikeliest of circumstances and married in mid-life, now living a blissful country life with their adopted daughter — until one day a hobo happens by. Buddy Newman cannot believe his good fortune: this family has everything he needs, including the most beautiful little girl he’s ever seen or dreamed of. Newman sets his plan in motion to charm and deceive the family and possess the object of his desires. Can they see through his elaborate deceit in time to save their daughter?
Quillen’s novel “Hiding Ezra” was a finalist in the 2005 DANA Awards competition, and a chapter of the novel is included in the new scholarly study of Appalachian dialect published by the University of Kentucky Press entitled “Talking Appalachian.” Her poetry chapbook, “Something Solid To Anchor To,” was published by Finishing Line Press. A full-length collection, “The Mad Farmer’s Wife,” was published in 2016.
One of six semi-finalists for the 2012-14 Poet Laureate of Virginia, her poetry received a Pushcart nomination in 2018, 2015, and 2012, as well as a Best of the Net nomination in 2012. Her most recent collection “Her Secret Dream,” new and selected poems, is from Wind Press in Kentucky and was named the Outstanding Poetry Book of the Year by the Appalachian Writers Association in 2008.
She lives and farms on Early Autumn Farm in Scott County, Virginia. You can contact her through her Facebook author page or at http://www.ritasimsquillen.com.
