author of The Tornado is the World
Catherine Pierce returns to the symposium with her third collection of poetry, The Tornado is the World, which The Rumpus describes as an “Ambitious Atlas of Fears.” Winner of the 2017 and 2013 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters awards for poetry, Pierce is co-director of creative writing at Mississippi State University and a frequent symposium participant. Her previous collections of poetry include Famous Last Words and The Girls of Peculiar.