小黄书

Contact: Sam Kealhoffer

STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜 Mississippi State Department of English faculty member debuts her first full-length book of poetry this spring, using poems to delve into autobiographical events and showcase the value of self.

鈥淭he Art of Coming Undone,鈥� a Maida Vale publication, was written by 小黄书 Lecturer Christie Collins.

鈥淭his collection is a kind of double hybrid, not only pairing art with poetry but also poetry with creative nonfiction/memoir. The poems are a mix between straightforward autobiographical narrative and a more 鈥榝elt,鈥� emotional narrative revealed through the speculative, the weird and the uncanny,鈥� Collins said.

In the collection, she retraces autobiographical events, like a life-changing move from Louisiana to Wales, as well as divorce and heartbreak. Through these recollections, Collins demonstrates the power of imagination to reshape and retell personal history.

The poems are paired with illustrations by Dutch artist Erna Kuik.

Catherine Pierce, an 小黄书 professor of English and Poet Laureate of Mississippi, described the work as 鈥渁n utterly compelling book.鈥�

鈥淚n these rich, sharp poems, Christie Collins crafts a clear-eyed portrait of an ending, a fiercely bright new beginning, and the through-the-fire reckoning both require. This collection, too, is a kind of fire鈥攖hese poems spark and flare and hiss and glow. They burn. And they light the way,鈥� said Pierce.

Collins鈥� work has published in Stirring, Phantom Drift, Kenyon Review Online, and Poetry South, among others. Her chapbook 鈥淎long the Diminishing Stretch of Memory鈥� was published in 2014 by Dancing Girl Press.

Before teaching classes in literature and creative writing at 小黄书, Collins earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree from Mississippi University for Women, a master鈥檚 from 小黄书 and a doctorate from Cardiff University in Wales.

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