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Book of Poetry by Heather Sellers Published

Posted October 8, 2002

HOLLAND -- A book of poetry by Dr. Heather Sellers of the Hope College English faculty has been likened to a coming-of-age story.

"Drinking Girls and Their Dresses" is being published by Ahsahta Press of Boise, Idaho, in late November.

Poet Marianne Boruch has said, "Heather Sellers' poems take us back--where?--to the first taste of our whereness, the fresh instant click of yes, that, or no, absolutely not, it was this and this and this. Be careful. These poems can be wonderfully dangerous; jumpy, radiant."

Poet Barbara Hamby has noted, "If you love poetry you can see, smell, taste, hear, and feel, then you will love the luscious poems in this collection. Heather Sellers's lines have the cadence of a chant, and there is some serious voodoo going on here, some magic incantations about being a girl, a woman, a human being in a scary, beautiful world."

Sellers has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1995. She was born in Orlando, Fla., and earned her bachelor's, master's and doctorate at Florida State University, in 1985, 1988 and 1992 respectively.

Her stories and poems have been published in many journals and magazines, including "New Stories from the South," "Five Points," "Alaska Quarterly Review" and "Sonora Review," and have received numerous awards and honors. She won an Academy of American Poets Award in 1992.

Sellers was one of only 41 writers nationally to receive a National Endowment for the Arts grant for 2000-02 to create original work or translate work. The collection of stories that she completed through the grant, "Georgia Under Water," was named a finalist in the 2002 "Paterson Fiction Prize" competition and in 2001 was recognized in the "Discover Great New Writers" program of Barnes & Noble bookstores.

Her publications also include "Never Told Me," a collection of stories. Her first children's book, "Spike and Cubby: Ice Cream Island Adventure!," is forthcoming from Henry Holt. She is currently working on a novel, "The Plain and Simple Truth," a sequel to "Georgia Under Water."

"Drinking Girls and Their Dresses" will be available in paperback for $12.95. Copies will be available at the college's Hope-Geneva Bookstore, located on the ground level of the DeWitt Center, as well as at other area book sellers.

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