The Ohio University Southern Writers Series will close National Poetry Month with special readings by five regional poets at 1 p.m. on Thursday at the Ironton campus.

The readings culminate National Poetry Month for OUS and is free and open to all.

The writers are featured in the upcoming book, “Feminine Rising: Voices of Power and Invisibility” (April 2019, Cynren Press.)

The featured writers include Dreama Pritt, an award-winning author of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction; Tuesday Taylor, a storytelling poet; Andrea Fekete, a novelist and poet who co-curated Feminine Rising; Mary Imo-Stike, poet; and Cathy Cultice Lentes, a poet, essayist and children’s writer.

The Writers Series began at OUS last fall and helps promote diversity by bringing in diverse voices.

Barbara Biggs, librarian for the campus, said many people don’t realize how diverse Appalachia is and how our experiences are similar yet wholly different.

“Through writing and sharing stories, we learn to understand and communicate with each other in more productive ways,” she said.

Biggs said she hopes students and community members are inspired to go home and write something themselves.

“We need to preserve our stories, because if we don’t do it, someone else will,” she said. “And it’s not as credible or truthful as our own voices,”

Biggs hopes attendees will not only listen to the readings, but feel comfortable asking questions of the writers.

“I hope (attendees gain) a new appreciation of others’ lives,” she said.

The event will be in the Student Success Center, on the second floor of the Collins Center. Light refreshments will be served after the readings.

More information about Feminine Rising: Voices of Power and Invisibility can be found online at https://tinyurl.com/y3toxmkf.