For many aspiring writers, the journey between finishing a manuscript and launching a book is veiled in mystery. The cogs and wheels of publishing can be strangely opaque to the authors themselves. This Porch Happy Hour Series illuminates the process and celebrates authors who have recently “birthed” their books.

In April, we welcome Corrie Lynn White, author of the poetry collection GOLD HILL FAMILY AUDIO, winner of the Cowles Poetry Prize out of Southeast Missouri State University Press. She'll be in conversation with Erin Pesut, a poet, essayist, and editor living in Brattleboro, Vermont, whose writing has appeared in Chautauqua, West Trestle Review, HeartWood, and Poetry South, and is forthcoming from Cleaver Magazine, Whale Road Review, and Raft Magazine.

Here's what reviewers have said about Gold Hill Family Audio:

"Corrie Lynn White’s debut collection stays faithful to the idea that holiness can be found in any earthly place." — David Roderick, author of The Americans

"It is the anxieties of this poet’s very human search that ring most true. And, as a woman, I have rarely felt so seen by a book." — Lauren Goodwin Slaughter, author of Spectacle

Originally from Gold Hill, North Carolina, Corrie holds a BA from UNC Chapel Hill and an MFA from UNC Greensboro. Her poetry and nonfiction has appeared in Oxford American, Mid-American Review, Chattahoochee Review, New Ohio Review, Best New Poets, and Adroit, among other places. She currently lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she works as a professional writer and was named the 2021 Tennessee Arts Commission Fellow in Poetry.