3 Emerging Writers Series

The Bert C. Bach Written Word Initiative

Three Emerging Writers

We are pleased to welcome Samantha Edmonds, Jeremy B. Jones, and Maria Zoccola to campus for the spring 2026 installment of the series. 

Monday, February 9, 2026 - Reece Museum 

Roundtable Conversation: 1:40-3:00
Public Reading and Audience Q&A: 3:10-4:30

The Three Emerging Writers:

Photo of Samantha Edmonds

Samantha Edmonds

Samantha Edmonds is the author of the story collection A Preponderance of Starry Beings as well as the chapbooks Pretty to Think So and The Space Poet. Her work appears in The New York Times, Fourth Genre, Ninth Letter, Michigan Quarterly Review, Mississippi Review, Creative Nonfiction, and McSweeney's Internet Tendency, among others. She's an Assistant Professor in the creative writing program at Berry College and lives in Rome, Georgia. 

Photo of Jeremy B. Jones

Jeremy B. Jones

Jeremy B Jones is the author of the nonfiction book Cipher: Decoding My Ancestor’s Scandalous Secret Diaries (Blair, 2025) as well as the memoir Bearwallow: A Personal History of a Mountain Homeland (Blair, 2014). Bearwallow was named the 2014 Appalachian Book of the Year in nonfiction and  awarded gold in the 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards in memoir. His essays have been published in Oxford American, Garden and Gun, The Bitter Southerner, and Brevity, among others. Jeremy earned his MFA from the University of Iowa and is a professor of English Studies at Western Carolina University, in his native North Carolina. He also serves as the series co-editor for In Place: a literary nonfiction book series from WVU Press.

Photo of Maria Zoccola

Maria Zoccola

Maria Zoccola is a poet and educator from Memphis, Tennessee. She has writing degrees from Emory University and Falmouth University, and has spent many years leading creative writing workshops for middle and high school youth. Maria’s work has previously appeared in The Atlantic, Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, The Sewanee Review, and elsewhere, and has received a special mention for the Pushcart Prize. Her debut poetry collection, Helen of Troy, 1993 (Scribner, 2025), earned a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice pick. 

A Preponderance of Starry Beings Cipher Helen of Troy, 1993
 
  • Three Emerging Writers Roundtable featuring Caleb Johnson, Karen Babine, and Valerie Smith, moderated by Lacy Snapp and Dr. Jesse Graves.
  • Nonfiction writer Karen Babine
  • Fiction writer and journalist Caleb Johnson
  • Poet Valerie Smith
  • Dr. Jesse Graves introduces the Three Emerging Writers panel, holding up Caleb Johnson's novel, Tree Borne.
  • The session lets students and the community hear about the writers' processes with both their craft and publishing.

We were pleased to welcome Karen Babine, Caleb Johnson, and Valerie Smith to campus for the fall 2024 installment of the series. 

3 Emerging Writers Event 2024

In 2024, we welcomed Halle Hill, Anna Laura Reeve, and Annie Woodford to campus.

  • Valencia Robin, Leah Naomi Green, and Lisa J. Parker spent the afternoon at ETSU for a roundtable discussion, poetry reading, and Q&A with students and the public for the 3 Emerging Writers' Event.
  • Leah Naomi Green holds up The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume IX: Virginia​ during her reading. All three of the 3 Emerging Writers appear in this collection edited by Dr. Graves and Dr. Amy Wright, the former ETSU Basler Chair.
  • A packed house of students, faculty, and the public for the 3 Emerging Writers' Event.
  • Valencia Robin answers crowd questions during the roundtable discussion.
  • Lisa J. Parker reads from her latest collection, The Parting Glass: Poems, which won the 2021 Arthur Smith Poetry Prize.
  • Dr. Jesse Graves welcomes the crowd for the 3 Emerging Writers' Event.
  • Dr. Bert C. Bach and other attendees listen to the visiting writers read their poetry.

In 2023, our writers were Naomi Green, Lisa Parker, and Valencia Robin.