FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

AUTHOR MARGE PIERCY TO HEADLINE 26th ANNUAL ARTS CELEBRATION

Marge Piercy Photo by Richard Rosenthal

DANVILLE, VA, March 18, 2008 — Poet, novelist and social activist Marge Piercy is set to headline Danville Community College’s 26^th Annual Celebration of the Arts, March 31 – April 3. The presentation by Piercy will be held Wednesday, April 2, at 11 a.m. in Oliver Hall (Temple Building, Room 110).

“We are pleased that Marge Piercy has accepted our invitation this year. She is an extremely sought-after speaker who visits numerous colleges across the United States. I am looking forward to her presentation,” says Dr. Mark Wallace, Assistant Professor of History and Chair of the Celebration of the Arts Committee.

 A native of Detroit, MI, Piercy is the author of 17 novels, including The New York Times’ Bestseller Gone To Soldiers. Piercy says she was born into a family that had been affected by the Depression. However, it was her mother whom Piercy credits with “making her a poet.” She describes her mother as “an emotional, imaginative woman full of odd lore and superstitions” who enjoyed reading and encouraged her daughter to do the same. Piercy became the first in her family to attend college, studying at the University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award for Poetry and Fiction. She completed a Master of Arts Degree from Northwestern University. Piercy is also the recipient of four honorary doctorates from Eastern Connecticut State University, Hebrew Union College, Lesley College, and Bridgewater State College, MA.

Some of Piercy’s other works include the National Bestseller’s Braided Lives and The Longings of Women and the classic, Woman on the Edge of Time. She also has 17 volumes of poetry, and a critically-acclaimed memoir, Sleeping with Cats. She has been a key player in many of the major progressive political battles, including the women's movement, anti-Vietnam war and most recently an active participant in the resistance to the war in Iraq.

Now based in Wellfleet, MA, Piercy is a popular speaker on college campuses where she has taught, lectured and/or performed her work at more than 400 institutions. She has been a featured writer on Bill Moyers’ PBS Specials, Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion, Terri Gross’ Fresh Air, the Today Show, and many nationwide radio programs. She has been praised as “one of the few American writers who are accomplished poets as well as novelists — whose genres include historical novels, science fiction (for which she won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction in the United Kingdom), novels of social comment and contemporary entertainments.”

The public is invited to Piercy’s presentation. For more information about DCC’s 26^th Annual Celebration of the Arts, contact Dr. Mark Wallace at 434.797.8471; toll-free: 800.560.4291, ext 8471; or click here.