We regretfully announce that the Valerie Nieman reading and seminar have been cancelled due to concerns for the coronavirus pandemic. Charleston is undergoing drastic prevention measures that will be wide-ranging in the next few days and we feel that it is best to join the city in exercising an abundance of caution at this time.  We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. 

Valerie Nieman’s latest book, Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse, joins two earlier collections from Press 53, Wake Wake Wake and Hotel Worthy. Her poems have appeared widely in journals and anthologies. She has held creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council. A novel published by Press 53, Blood Clay, received the Eric Hoffer Award, and her fourth novel, To the Bones, will be published in spring 2019 by West Virginia University Press. A graduate of West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte, she teaches writing at North Carolina A&T State University and at other venues including John C. Campbell Folk School.