Spring Literary Festival
Former Poet Laureate Rita Dove in conversation with Dr. Jesse Graves and Professor
Valencia Robin at the 2024 Spring Literary Festival.
Poet-in-Residence Dr. Jesse Graves and former Poet Laureate Joy Harjo before the Sixth
Annual Robert "Jack" Higgs Memorial Reading in 2018.
Keynote speaker Daniel Wallace joins a roundtable discussion with Dr. Jesse Graves
and Dr. Scott Honeycutt to discuss his new memoir, This Isn't Going to End Well, and
the legacy of William Nealy.
Poet-in-Residence Dr. Jesse Graves hosts a Q&A session with former Poet Laureate Joy
Harjo during the 2018 Spring Literary Festival.
Silas House, Dr. Jesse Graves, and graduate students from the Literature and Language
Department pause for a photo following the Seventh Annual Robert "Jack" Higgs Memorial
Reading in 2019.
Catherine Pritchard Childress, Janes Hicks, Kathleen Grover, Rita Sims Quillen, and
Tamara Baxter at the Spring Literary Festival.
Former Poet Laureate Rita Dove in conversation with Dr. Jesse Graves and Professor Valencia Robin at the 2024 Spring Literary Festival.
Poet-in-Residence Dr. Jesse Graves and former Poet Laureate Joy Harjo before the Sixth Annual Robert "Jack" Higgs Memorial Reading in 2018.
Keynote speaker Daniel Wallace joins a roundtable discussion with Dr. Jesse Graves and Dr. Scott Honeycutt to discuss his new memoir, This Isn't Going to End Well, and the legacy of William Nealy.
Poet-in-Residence Dr. Jesse Graves hosts a Q&A session with former Poet Laureate Joy Harjo during the 2018 Spring Literary Festival.
Silas House, Dr. Jesse Graves, and graduate students from the Literature and Language Department pause for a photo following the Seventh Annual Robert "Jack" Higgs Memorial Reading in 2019.
Catherine Pritchard Childress, Janes Hicks, Kathleen Grover, Rita Sims Quillen, and Tamara Baxter at the Spring Literary Festival.
The Bert C. Bach Written Word Initiative's Spring Literary Festival consists of two days filled with lectures, readings, and workshops which are open to both ETSU students and the public. Browse our schedule for the 2025 Spring Literary Festival which will feature Helena María Viramontes as the Jack Higgs Keynote Speaker and Gaylord Brewer, Erika Howsare, and Carter Sickels as featured presenters.
2023 Highlights:
Daniel Wallace reads from his memoir, This Isn't Going to End Well, for the Jack Higgs Memorial Reading at the 2023 Spring Literary Festival keynote address.
Visiting writers Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, Adrienne Su, and Austin Bunn take questions from students and the community about writing and craft.
Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle reads from her novel, Even As We Breathe, and talks about fiction writing to the crowd.
Joshua Martin reads poetry as one of the presenters for the New Writing from ETSU session. He is a professor in the Department of Literature and Language.
Poet Adrienne Su reads from her book, Peach State.
Dr. Jesse Graves, ETSU's Poet-in-Residence and the Director of the Bert C. Bach Written Word Initiative, opens the two-day Spring Literary Festival.
Keynote speaker Daniel Wallace joins a roundtable discussion with Dr. Jesse Graves and Dr. Scott Honeycutt to discuss his new memoir, This Isn't Going to End Well, and the legacy of William Nealy.
A crowd fills the Reece Museum for the Keynote Address of the Spring Literary Festival, presented by author Daniel Wallace.
Keynote speaker Daniel Wallace joins a roundtable discussion with Dr. Jesse Graves and Dr. Scott Honeycutt to discuss his new memoir, This Isn't Going to End Well, and the legacy of William Nealy.