FROM STAFF REPORTS

MONTEVALLO—The University of Montevallo will host three award-winning writers during the 2014-15 academic year. As part of the BACHE Visiting Writers’ Series, Chantel Acevedo, Tayari Jones and Brian Turner will hold readings in the J.A. Brown Room of Carmichael Library at UM.

The Birmingham Consortium for Higher Education (BACHE) is a partnership among the five four-year colleges and universities in the greater Birmingham area. Created by the presidents in 1996 to advance academic excellence through collaborative activities and shared resources, BACHE enhances educational opportunities for students and provides services and support to faculty, staff and the community. Member institutions include Birmingham-Southern College, Miles College, Samford University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Montevallo.

Acevedo, a Cuban-American born and raised in Miami, teaches at Auburn University. The founder of the annual Auburn Writers Conference, she has received awards for her fiction and poetry and has been published in prestigious reviews throughout the U.S. Acevedo will speak at UM Sept. 23.

Jones, a native of Atlanta, is an associate professor of English at Rutgers-Newark University. Her fiction and nonfiction writings have appeared in such publications as The New York Times and New Stories from the South, and she has authored three novels. Jones will be at Montevallo Nov. 11.

Brian Turner is a soldier-poet and award-winning author of two poetry collections. He served seven years in the U.S. Army including tours in Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina. His poetry has been published in a number of journals and reviews including Voices in Wartime Anthology, which included a feature-length documentary film of the same name. He was selected as one of 50 United States Artists Fellows in 2009. He will speak at UM Feb. 24, 2015.

The BACHE Visiting Writers Series is designed to bring writers of national and regional significance to north central Alabama by sponsoring readings open to the entire community. The series is funded by grants from the five BACHE institutions, the Alabama State Council on the Arts and other donors.