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YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – On Thursday, Oct. 4, David Bottoms and Kelly J. Beard will read for the annual Sellers Lecture at 7 p.m. in Hatcher Dining Room in the Rollins Campus Center at Young Harris College. This event is free and open to the public.

Bottoms, the former Poet Laureate of Georgia, currently holds the Amos Distinguished Chair in English at Georgia State University. Bottoms is the author of eight books of poetry, including Shooting Rats at the Bibb County Dump, which was selected by Robert Penn Warren for the 1979 Walt Whitman Award.

Beard practiced employment discrimination law in Atlanta for more than two decades before earning a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work appears in Creative Nonfiction, Santa Ana River Review, Five Points and other journals. An Imperfect Rapture, an unflinching account of growing up in Christian fundamentalism and poverty, is her first full-length memoir.

The Sellers Lecture Series was established to honor Bettie M. Sellers, professor emeritus at Young Harris College and noted Georgia poet. Sellers taught English and served as chair of the Division of Humanities at Young Harris College. After 32 years of service, she retired in 1997. She was named Author of the Year in 1979 by the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists, and she received the Governor’s Award in the Humanities in 1987. In 1992, she was named Poet of the Year by the American Pen Women. In 1997, she was named Poet Laureate of Georgia by then-governor Zell Miller, ’51, a position she held for three years. She received a lifetime achievement award from the Georgia Writers Association in 2004.

For more information about the event, contact Jim May, Ph.D., at [email protected] or (706) 379-5165.

About Young Harris College

Young Harris College is a private baccalaureate and master’s degree-granting institution located in the beautiful mountains of North Georgia. Founded in 1886 and historically affiliated with The United Methodist Church, Young Harris College educates, inspires and empowers students through an education that purposefully integrates the liberal arts and professional studies. The College has three academic divisions: Arts and Humanities, Professional Studies, and Mathematics, Science and Technology, with more than 1,300 students enrolled in its residential and Early College programs. The historic campus in Young Harris, Ga. has completed major campus improvements to accommodate the College’s growth. LEED-certified campus improvements include the 121,000-square-foot Rollins Campus Center, residence facilities and a 57,000-square-foot recreation and fitness center. The College is an active member of the NCAA Division II and remains a fierce competitor in the prestigious Peach Belt Conference. For more information, visit yhc.edu.

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