MC’s Seymour inducted into East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame
March 19, 2021
Christina Seymour, lecturer in writing communication at Maryville College, is being inducted into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame for 2021. She will be formally inducted during a virtual celebration on April 29.
Seymour earned a bachelor of arts degree in English with a concentration in creative writing from Pennsylvania State University. She also holds a master of fine arts degree in creative writing with a concentration in poetry from West Virginia University. Seymour came to Maryville College in 2014 to teach poetry, literature and professional writing.
Seymour, who is being honored by the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame for her poetry writing, has won several awards for her work. She has received the Russell MacDonald Creative Writing Award and has been nominated for Best New Poets, the AWP Intro Award, Iron Horse Discovered Voices Award and the Pushcart Prize. Her poems also appear in the literary journals The Moth; Cimarron Review; The Briar Cliff Review; New Haven Review; North American Review; Arsenic Lobster; anda travelling exhibit by the Wick Poetry Center and Soldier’s Heart, Speak Peace—American Voices Respond to Vietnamese Children’s Paintings.
Her book of poetry, When is a Burning Tree, won the 2017 Lyrebird Award from Glass Lyre Press. Her chapbook, Flowers Around Your Soft Throat, was published in 2016 by Structo, a UK-based journal that chose her poem “Song of Loves” as its annual contest winner.
The East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame was established in 2004 by Friends of Literacy, a nonprofit whose mission is to improve adult literacy and education in East Tennessee to “honor the contributions of local and regional writers to our culture and history.”
Hall of Fame categories include lifetime achievement, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, social media, playwriting, songwriting, children’s literature, and the jurors’ award for outstanding contribution to East Tennessee culture and literacy. Nominations are accepted each year, and an independent panel of judges evaluates nominees based on recognition within the writer’s field, longevity, quality and volume of work. All nominees must have been born in, currently reside in, or have a body of work related to the East Tennessee region.
Seymour is one of eight prominent writers who will be inducted into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame for 2021. Other inductees include: Shannon Burke (Fiction), Scott Barker and Jesse Mayshark, Compass Knox (Journalism), James Glen Stovall (Lifetime Achievement), Chris Wohlwend (Nonfiction),Sarah Pirkle (Songwriting) and Darius Stewart (Emerging Writer Award).
“It is an honor to be recognized in the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame. It feels wonderful to be in the company of such talented writers, especially those poets whose work I have treasured and perhaps even idolized as a student,” said Seymour. “To me, this recognition by Friends of Literacy means that my work is valued, both as a poet and a teacher. Plenty of moments in those two jobs can be challenging, but knowing that my day-to-day effort reaches others, that the East TN community supports those efforts, is validating. It makes the difficult moments easier to bear and the celebratory moments that much more fun.”
Written by Grant Agnew ’22, Communications Assistant