The Visiting Writers Series for 2019-20 kicks off with poet Jeanne Larsen. Her new book What Penelope Chooses, winner of the Cider Press Review (CPR) Book Award, was published last spring by CPR. She also is the author of four novels, two other books of poetry, and two of translations of poems by medieval Chinese women. She has just retired from the Jackson Center for Creative Writing at Hollins University. 

For over thirty years, the USM Center for Writers has brought internationally acclaimed authors of poetry and fiction to Hattiesburg and the USM community for public readings, workshops, and individual conferences with Center graduate students.