Nov 5th, 2015
Jackson State Community College Assistant Professor Ryan Guth will read excerpts from his new book, Body and Soul, on Nov. 12 at the University of Memphis - Lambuth Campus.
The event is 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Wisdom Parlor room of UM-Lambuth's Varnell-Jones building. A light reception will follow the reading.
Body and Soul tells the story of a survivor of child sexual abuse within a narrative framework of verse, prose and other hybrid forms of writing. It's a mixed-genre novel that offers a chronological account of divorcee Cassandra Hart's physical and psychological recovery after a descent into alcoholism and destructive sexual relationships.
"The book shows her struggle with these terrible experiences," Guth said. "But it also shows her winning that struggle. In the end, she is able to reclaim her life."
Body and Soul, published by Lummox Press and released in April 2015, has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and was recently featured at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville. The book can be purchased from Lummox Press or on Amazon.com. Copies will also be available for $20 at the reading event.
Guth, who recently joined Jackson State Community College to teach English, is a former composition, literature and creative writing professor at UM-Lambuth. His first book, Home Truths, was published in 2006. His individual poems have appeared in journals such as Lummox, Iron Horse, Bryant Literary Review, Third Coast Review and River City.